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A LITTLE JOURNEY 

TO 

ENGLAND and WALES 


BY 

MARIAN M. GEORGE 


FOR INTERMEDIATE AND UPPER 
GRADES 


A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 


CHICAGO 





COPYRIGHT 1002, 1023 BY A. FLANAGAN COMPANY 



ft * 


1 


OCT -2*23 


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

© Cl &762025 

j 


xy 



INDEX 

PART I 

ENGLAND 


Bank of England, The. 33 

Billingsgate . 40 

British Museum, The. 37 

Buckingham Palace. 57 

Bus, The London. 24 

Dickens, Charles, Story of... 61 
Dickens, Charles, Works of.. 63 
Docks and Thames River, The, 
London. 38 

East End, The, London. 65 

Education . 78 

Facts About London.'. 22 

Hotel, Our, London... 19 

Landseer, Edwin. 70 

Liverpool . 13 

Liverpool, Docks of. 14 

London . 18 

London and Liverpool. 3 

London Bridge. 40 

London Bus, The. 24 

London Parks. 67 

London Season, The... 81 

London Streets. 26 

Museum, The British. 37 


Parks, London. 67 

Parliament, The Houses of.... 54 
Poet’s Corner, Westminster 
Abbey . 50 

Queen Victoria, Jubilee Por¬ 
trait of. 4 

Richest Square in London, The 32 

Rotton Row.i.. 68 

Royal Exchange, The. 34 

St. Paul’s Cathedral. 36 

Season, The London. 81 

Strand, The, London. 30 

Streets, London. 26 

Thames River, The. 38 

Tower of London, The. 42 

Trafalgar Square, London.... 28 
Traveling in England.. 16 

Victoria Hotel, London. 19 

Voyage, The. 6 

Walk in London, A. 58 

Westminster Abbey. 47 

Westminster Palace. 52 

Windsor Castle. 72 















































* 



























' I 





























. 















A Little Journey to 
England. 


PART I. 


LONDON AND LIVERPOOL. 

* * A snug little island ! 

A bright little, tight little island! 

Search the globe round, 

And none can be found 
So happy as this little island. ” 

You and I may not agree with the person who 
wrote this bit of verse about England, but our English 
ancestors believed it firmly. To them “Old England” 
was the most beautiful spot on earth. We can under¬ 
stand why America did not seem an attractive country 
to them, for they endured much suffering and hardship 
during the first few years they spent here. 

When they left their comfortable homes in Eng¬ 
land and came to America they found but a wilder¬ 
ness. Much of the time their lives were in danger 
from unfriendly Indians, and in addition to this they 
sometimes suffered for lack of food and other necessi¬ 
ties, so we cannot wonder at their looking back upon 
England as a happier place in which to live. 

They told their children stories of the pleasant 
years spent in the old home in England, and these chil¬ 
dren came to have something of the same affection 
for the mother country as the parents. The name 




A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND 



JUBILEE PORTRAIT OF QUEEN VICTORIA 





















































































































































































A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND 


5 


and pictured face of England’s former queen, Victoria, 
were very familiar in America throughout her unusually 
long reign. And though to us no country can be so 
dear as America, no foreign land can be so interesting 
as England, the home of our ancestors. 

When our grandparents came to the place where 
Chicago now stands, they found but a frog pond. They 
came west in wagons and it took them weeks to make 
the trip from the Atlantic Coast. 

If these pioneers could be here to-day and take the 
trip from Chicago to New York on the “Pennsylvania 
Limited” with us, their eyes would open wide with 
astonishment at the marvelous changes that have 
taken place. 

They came west in'wagons. We are leaving the 
West in a train that gives the comforts and freedom 
enjoyed in a home. We are not obliged to remain in 
one compartment, but have at our disposal a cafe, a 
dining room, a smoking room, a parlor, bed rooms and 
a bath. There are also a library and cosy corners for 
reading and lounging. 

If one wishes to write letters there is a train sten¬ 
ographer and typewriter to call upon, and the mail is 
collected from the train. What more could the most 
exacting traveller desire ? 

There is an observation parlor too, where one may 
view the scenery through plate glass windows until 
darkness falls about. Swiftly the train bears us 

“Through fertile fields 
And pretty vales, 

By mountain streams 
On guarded rails. 


6 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


Here pastures green, 

There marts of trade, 

Or well-kept farms 
And woodland shade.” 

The next evening finds us in New York—a trip that 
required weeks and even months of travel seventy- 
five years ago. We can sail from New York in a fast 
steamer and land on England’s shore in six days,—a 
trip that would also have taken months of time during 
the life of our great-great-grandparents. What fortu¬ 
nate people we are to live in the twentieth century. 
We would scarcely know how to get along without the 
steam cars and steamships. 



THE VOYAGE. 

New York is not the only point of departure for 
Europe, but it is the principal one. From this port 
thirty companies send steamers every week to Eur¬ 
opean ports. 

Our steamer lies at the wharf, clean, flagged and 
giving signs of her readiness to depart by letting off 
steam. 






A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


7 


As the hour for sailing approaches, the wharf 
swarms with people, of all ages and kinds. Vendors 
of steamer chairs, flowers, pop-corn and candies, 
mingle their shouts with those of newsboys, drivers 
of baggage wagons and coaches; express messengers 
and telegraph boys hurry through the crowds with 
notes and gifts of fruit and flowers for departing pas¬ 
sengers. 

On board the vessel the crowd is even greater than 
on shore. Across the gang plank and at the end 
stands a uniformed officer, who directs us to the saloon 
or parlor. Cabin boys are rushing about with sat¬ 
chels, boxes and trunks. 

The decks, dining room and saloon are filled with 
people. Some of these are passengers and others are 
friends, come to bid them good bye. Visitors walk 
about the ship, peering into the state rooms, dining 
room and other parts of the ship with curious eyes. 
Many of them have never seen an ocean steamer 
before. 

A bell rings to warn them that it is time to go ashore, 
and the next minute they hurry down the gang plank 
while their friends assemble on the upper deck. The 
great fog horn sounds; the last pieces of baggage are 
lowered into the hull, the gang planks taken up, the 
cables shipped and we are off on a three thousand 
mile voyage. 

The wharf with its cheering multitude is left behind 
and after the last glimpse of the harbor we retire to 
our state rooms to arrange our belongings. 

The call to lunch comes very soon after leaving 
land and it finds us ready with keen appetites. By 


8 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


dinner time, however, we have no desire to even look 
at the dinner table. We feel sure we shall never care 
to eat another meal, and wish we were back on land 
again. Seasickness has driven many to their state 
rooms. 

The old ship-doctor walks about among the sick 
passengers and tells them that if they wish to be well 
at sea, they must laugh and keep out of doors. We 
take his advice and soon again enjoy the voyage. 

The first morning out is a great delight to the for¬ 
tunate traveler who is not seasick. After a bath, a 
cup of coffee and a biscuit, one is ready for an early 












A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


9 


walk on deck. There are not many out at this time 
and it is the best part of the day for a promenade. 

Breakfast follows the morning walk and this dis¬ 
posed of, every one not prostrated by sea-sickness 
gathers on deck again. Some wrap themselves in rugs 
and shawls and stretch out on steamer chairs to re¬ 
main for the greater part of the day. Here they read, 
talk, nap, and watch the water. 

Others vary the monotony by playing quoits, hop¬ 
scotch, bean bag, shuffle board, checkers or cards. 
By and by the band appears and for an hour there is 
music. Then.the deck steward brings cups of coffee 
or beef tea to those who wish refreshments. Indeed 
it seems as if one does little else but eat, for five meals 
are served each day. 

The evening is the time for gaiety. The dining 
room is brilliantly lighted with electric lights and dur¬ 
ing the evening meal an orchestra plays. After din¬ 
ner we stroll out on the deck for the fresh breeze that 
is always blowing. 

The nights are beautiful and everyone remains on 
deck as late, as possible to watch the starry skies and 
phosphorescent sparkle of the light-flooded sea. 
When the wind blows a stiff breeze the sea rises, and 
at times the ship seems almost engulfed in the moun¬ 
tain billows. The days are long. The twilight con¬ 
tinues so late that at 9 o’clock in the evening it seems 
not much later than seven at home. Time is kept 
by bells. We are puzzled at first at the difference be¬ 
tween the time shown by our watches and that of the 
ship, but find that we have gained from fifteen to 
twenty minutes a day by sailing eastward. 


10 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 

Some mornings are enlivened by a life-boat or fire 
drill, or a distant view of a passing ship, but the most 
exciting incident is an encounter with an iceberg. A 
long way off it appears like the back of a great camel. 
A closer view reveals a monster mass of ice, over a 
hundred feet rising out of the water. 

A ship officer tells us that the ship sometimes 
passes a hundred of these fragments of Arctic glaciers 
in a single ocean trip. We are not alarmed by the 
iceberg, since it is almost a quarter of a mile away, 
but we are glad that there is no fog at this particular 
time. A collision with one of these would probably 
destroy our vessel. 

We never tire of watching the birds that accom¬ 
pany the ship. There are some about the size of spar¬ 
rows, known as “Mother Cary’s Chickens.” The sail¬ 
ors believe that certain disaster would come to their 
vessel if one of these birds were injured, and are care¬ 
ful not to hurt them. 

As we near the end of our voyage, large flocks of 
sea gulls sail about our ship. They are beautiful 
birds, about as large as crows. At times they settle 
on the water and ride the waves, and then suddenly 
arise and dart away, touching the waves with the tips 
of their wings. 

The voyage slips rapidly away, and the coast of 
Ireland draws nearer and nearer. The next to the 
last evening the passengers give an entertainment for 
the benefit of a sailor who was injured during the last 
voyage made by our ship. Some of the passengers 
give selections on the piano or violin; others sing, re¬ 
cite or lecture, and a very pleasant evening is passed. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


13 


Then comes the last night at sea, when all gather 
on deck and sing, “Home, Sweet Home.” Far away 
on the horizon flash the lights which sentinel Ireland. 
In the morning the ship stops at Queenstown for mail 
and passengers, and then speeds on its way once more 
for Liverpool, where we land. 

The island for which we are bound is one of a group 
that lies off the northwestern coast of Europe. Great 
Britain is the largest of the five thousand isles in¬ 
cluded in the British Isles. The island of Great 
Britain is divided into England, Wales and Scotland. 
England is the most important part of this island. 
It contains London, the capital of the British Empire, 
and Liverpool, one of the greatest seaports of the 
world. 

We have planned to spend our first month abroad 
in these two cities, another month in other parts of 
England and Wales, a third in Scotland and a fourth 
in Ireland. 

LIVERPOOL. 

England at last! How glad we are to enter the 
harbor and feel the solid earth beneath us once more. 
We have been told that Liverpool is one of the great¬ 
est seaports in the world, and are quite ready to be¬ 
lieve it when we see its wonderful docks. It is a city 
of ships. 

There are acres of masts and funnels, and the flags 
of all nations are fluttering over them. 

In former days there were few American flags 
among them, as American shipping companies used 
English ships. Indeed more than one nation drew 


14 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


upon Great Britain’s vast supply of merchant vessels 
and steamships to transport goods and passengers, 
instead of building vessels of their own. 

During the European War, however, the situation 
was somewhat changed. The United States was 
obliged to build up a large merchant marine to trans¬ 
port war supplies and soldiers. As a result, our coun¬ 
try has about seven-tenths as many ships as those 
belonging to the United Kingdom (Great Britain and 
Ireland), with a tonnage of about 90 per cent, of the 
British tonnage. 

In spite of this great increase in American shipping, 
Great Britain is still the leading maritime nation of 
the world. Ours is primarily a manufacturing and 
agricultural nation and most of our energies are spent 
on developing our home markets. England lacks 
land, but has the seas and a great foreign market. 

On the docks of Liverpool may be found sailors 
and merchant traders from every nation on earth. 

There are steamers in the harbor bringing cargoes 
of beef and grain from the plains of South America, 
beef and mutton from Australia, sugar, spices and 
fruits from the East and West Indies, fish and oil 
from the north, gums, ivory and hundreds of other 
things from goodness knows where. It is a wonderful 
sight to look down the Mersey River upon this army 
of ships coming in with the tide. 

Liverpool is built on the eastern shore of the Mer¬ 
sey, a tidal river. The tide rises and falls about fif¬ 
teen feet, and this has made it necessary to enclose 
the docks and build a landing stage for the use of pas¬ 
sengers from the great ocean steamers. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


15 


The docks of Liverpool cover almost 600 acres and 
have a linear wharfage of 36 miles. They have an 
immense landing stage, a floating structure, more than 
2,400 feet long and 80 feet wide, by means of which 
passengers pass from ocean-going steamers and river 
ferry boats to the wharf. 

Different docks are used for different purposes. 
Some are for grain, some for lumber, others for cotton, 
and so on through a long list. The coal dock has huge 
hydraulic coaling hoists, handling 300 tons an hour, 
and the cattle dock has a cold storage warehouse for 
fresh meat and slaughter houses for the cattle. 

Trains of “goods vans’’ are also there being loaded 
and unloaded. The English have no freight trains 
such as ours. The freight is piled into open vans and 
covered with tarpaulin. The van is a short, four- 
wheeled wagon, something like a coal car but about a 
fourth as large. 

There are monstrous brick warehouses where goods 
are stored to be shipped or reshipped to other parts of 
the world. Liverpool’s chief trading port is America. 
England sends to the United States and to the Eng¬ 
lish colonies for cotton, grains, live stock and tobacco. 
In return she sends out manufactured articles of wool, 
cotton and iron. The iron and steel goods are sent to 
Liverpool from other cities; coal and salt from the 
south and south-west part of England. 

Liverpool seems much like a busy city in the States. 
There are few ancient landmarks or interesting build¬ 
ings. The most magnificent structure is St, George’s 
Hall, which is said to contain one of the finest organs 
in the world. We will not remain to hear it for we 


16 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


wish to hurry to London. Few travellers remain 
here long, as there is little to interest them aside from 
the docks. 

But this we have learned: Liverpool is one of the 
most densely populated cities in the world. It is also 
one of the largest cotton markets and is the chief 
emigrant port of Great Britain. 

TRAVELING IN ENGLAND. 

Before taking the train for London we must find 
our baggage, which is in the inspection shed. This is a 
big enclosure on the wharf, with room for hundreds of 
trunks. Every piece is labeled with the name and 
destination of its owner; so it is not hard to find ours. 

The trunks marked London are put in a place by 
themselves, while we wait for the custom house in¬ 
spectors to examine them. The porter unstraps the 
leather bands and throws the trunks open. The inspec¬ 
tor looks at the things and we declare that there is 
nothing there on which we should pay a duty. Tobacco, 
spirits and reprints of English books are the forbidden 
things. The porter then loads our trunks on a truck 
and takes them to a “goods van” of the waiting train 
that is to take us to London. No check is given to 
us. The railroad companies do not issue them. Each 
passenger must be on hand to pick out his baggage 
when his journey’s end is reached. 

The stubby little English railroad carriages do not 
compare very favorably with our palace cars, but one 
finds them comfortable. America is a country of great 
distances, where a journey of four or five days is no 
uncommon experience. One needs for these long 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 17 

journeys every convenience and luxury of toilet to 
make the trip endurable. 

But in England the distances are short, the major¬ 
ity of journeys not requiring more than three hours. 
One is very seldom required to pass a night aboard a 
train. So you see the necessity for conveniences is 
not so urgent. 

The English people speak of their cars as carriages, 
The carriages are divided into three sections; first, 
second and third class. The first class is the most ex* 
pensive and is occupied by the wealthy. These carl* 
are upholstered in cloth. The second class are no* 
quite so fine, and the third class have brussels covered 
cushions in place of cloth. 

A section has two long seats facing each other, a? 
in our street cars. The windows are at the end 
of the sections instead of at the side. The section ip 
locked between stations. Our tickets are taken by thr 
guard at the end of the journey, instead of the begiiy 
ning. 

Going to Liverpool, we sit in one of the saloon ca* 
riages, in which passengers holding first class ticket? 
are allowed to ride. In the middle of the car is a 
drawing room provided with reading tables. There is 
a dressing room at each end of the car, one for gentle¬ 
men and one for ladies. If we desire anything we 
have but to touch one of the many electric bells of the 
car, and an attendant enters and asks what we wish. 
There are only two stops between Liverpool and Lon¬ 
don, a distance of two hundred miles. This will take 
us over four hours. There is no dining car, so we tele¬ 
graph ahead to Crewe for lunch. When we arrive at 


18 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 

this place a boy at the station will bring it to us in 
wicker baskets. 

Now we are off and rushing along at the rate of 
fifty miles an hour. The railroad track does not cross 
the streets, but runs below or above them to avoid 
danger of accidents. 

We cannot describe the beauty of the country in 
England, but it does our eyes good, and we feast them 
upon it. Through vales and along silver streams, 
across farms and wooded lands the train flies all 
too rapidly. We get only glimpses of poppied hedges, 
daisy-starred fields, patches of purple foxglove, ivy- 
covered w^alls and cottages. Here and there the spires 
of a country church or a little village show through 
the trees. 

LONDON. 

Here we are in London. The roar and rumble of 
its busy streets greet us as we step from the cars into 
the station. What a dreary, lonesome place it is. It 
is not so large a depot as the one inNew York. That is 
said to be the largest in the world. 

Who are these splendid looking men in fine uni¬ 
forms walking about? Only station and hotel porters! 
They look important enough to be generals, and we 
hesitate to ask them to assist us. 

The streets of central London are so crowded with 
traffic that underground railways have been built in 
that part of the city. These 'roads run in tunnels 
forty, fifty and sometimes a hundred feet under¬ 
ground. This is to avoid clashing with the system 
of sewers, gas and water mains, electric wire conduits 
and other pipes necessary in a great city. 



A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 19 


Wherever stations are built in the business part of 
the city, subways are built for passengers. Smoke 

and bad air in the 
tunnel is avoided 
by using electric¬ 
ity to run the 
trains. 

At the station 
we take motor 
cabs and in a few 
minutes are at 
the end of our 
journey. 


OUR HOTEL. 


There are many 
fine hotels in Lon¬ 
don, similar to the 
one you see in 
this picture, but 
as these places are 
more apt to afford 
style than com¬ 
fort we decide in 
favor of a more 
modest one for 
our headquarters. 
The one selec- 

VICTORIA HOTEL, LONDON. ^ j g ^ ^ yery 

heart of London. Near us is Trafalgar Square, and 
everything centers about Trafalgar Square. Not far 
away are the Charing Cross and the Golden Cross 







20 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


hotels that Dickens has made famous in his stories. 

The bedrooms in this place are large, dark and 
dingy looking. There are four post-beds with cur¬ 
tains, such as our great grand-parents used to own, 
and furniture so ancient that its proper place would 
be a curiosity shop. 

Our rooms are lighted by candles, for gaslight in 
most English hotels is only to be found in the halls 
and public rooms. The candles one uses are charged 
in the bill, and so many travellers carry candles about 
with them in their luggage to avoid paying for a new 
one every night. 

We are told we can have breakfast served to us in 
our rooms, and a servant comes to take our order for 
this morning meal. 

There are many hotels in the States said to be con¬ 
ducted on the “European plan. ” We have supposed 
that this meant serving meals after the fashion of the 
people in Europe. But it doesn’t—at least not always. 
When we order breakfast we find it different from what 
it is in the States. 

We tell the waiter that we want a plain breakfast 
and he brings us two boiled eggs, a roll as hard as a 
paving stone, a little marmalade and a pot of coffee. 
For this we pay two shillings and six pence, or half a 
crown, which is sixty cents in our money. If we order 
a regular breakfast we will get ham and eggs, steak 
or bacon, rolls and coffee. At the bake shops we can 
buy coffee and rolls in the morning for six or nine 
pence. 

At noon the restaurants are all open, where one 
can order anything one wishes just as in the States. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


21 


Such excellent bacon and mutton we have nowhere 
in the world. And the marmalade! Surely nothing 
better was ever made. We wonder why we cannot 
get any like it at home. 

The dinner served between six and eight in the 
evening is a very formal meal. In the larger hotels it 
consists of eight courses and one spends an hour and 
a half to two hours at table at these places. Everyone 
appears in evening dress, but at the smaller hotels and 
taverns, tourists may dress as they like. 

After dinner we open our map of London and our 
guide books and plan the next day’s sight seeing. 

WHAT OUR HAP SHOWS US. 

Our map shows us that London lies on both sides 
of the Thames, and in parts of four counties. Middle¬ 
sex and Essex are on the north, and Surrey and Kent 
on the south. The most important and interesting 
parts of the city are on the north bank of the river, 
while the part south of the river is devoted to manu¬ 
facturing and residences. 

The north side is divided into the East End and 
the West End, Temple Bar being the dividing line. 
This Temple Bar is neither a temple nor a bar. It was 
at one time an old city landmark or stone which sepa¬ 
rated the city of London and the city of Westmin¬ 
ster. The old bar is now gone, but another has been 
put in its place. 

We have often seen this old bar mentioned in his¬ 
tory. It was formerly the custom to close and lock 
this bar when the sovereign of England approached 
the city of London. The royal herald approached 


22 


A TJTTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


and asked for admission. The gates were then un¬ 
locked and thrown open, and the keys of the city pre¬ 
sented to the queen. Queen Victoria knocked at this 
old gate during jubilee week in 1897. 

To the east of Temple Bar we find the port, the 
docks, custom house, bank and royal exchange. Fur¬ 
ther out toward East End are places known as Mile 
End Road, and Whitechapel, which is the poor dis¬ 
trict of London. 

West of Temple Bar are Westminster Abbey, the 
Houses of Parliament, the Queen’s Palace, government 
offices, clubs, museums and picture galleries. There 
are to be found the parks also, and the homes of the 
wealthy and aristocratic people of the city. 

If we keep these things in mind, it will be easy to 
make our way about and find what we want. 

WHAT OUR GUIDE TELLS US. 

When we tell our guide that we have a whole 
month in which to see London, he tells us that it will 
give time but for a glimpse. One might spend a life¬ 
time in studying the city, and then know but a small 
part. 

London proper is a city of about 4,500,000 people, 
occupying an area of 117 acres. With its suburbs, 
however, it is known as Greater London, and has 
almost 7,500,000 people, covering 693 square miles. 
It is the largest city in the world, having almost 
2,000,000 people more than Greater New York. 

The guide tells us that in London there are more 
Roman Catholics than in Rome, more Jews than in 
Palestine, more Scotchmen than in Aberdeen, more 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND 


23 



CIIEAPSTDE 







24 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


Welchmen than in Cardiff, more Irishmen than in 
Belfast. 

Greater London now has about 350 miles of street 
car lines, carrying an average of 700,0t)0,000 passengers 
annually. For many years the cars were drawn by 
horses, but now all the horse cars have disappeared 
and the electric cars prevail. 

In the same manner, the lighting of the city has 
slowly changed from oil and gas to electricity, which 
is now extensively used on the principal streets, in 
office buildings, and in private homes. 

THE LONDON BUS. 

The best way to see London is from the upper deck 
of a motor omnibus. For many years the omnibuses 
were drawn by horses and were a familiar sight amid 
the traffic of London streets. As they were usually 
painted in gay colors—some red, some green, some 
orange, etc.—they could be seen for blocks away. 
The upper deck was somewhat extended over the body 
of the bus and seats were built upon it to accommodate 
from sixteen to twenty persons. In front, almost on 
a level with the upper deck sat the driver. The top 
of the bus was reached by a winding stairway. The 
conductor stood on the rear platform and collected 
fares. The sides of the bus were covered with brightly 
colored advertising posters. 

As motor vehicles increased in popularity, how¬ 
ever, motor omnibuses gradually replaced the old type 
of omnibus. The motor omnibus is larger than the 
old horse-drawn vehicle, which carried a maximum of 
thirty-four passengers, while the motor bus accom- 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


25 


modates a maximum of fifty-four. In contrast to the 
brilliant colors of the old type, it is almost uniformly 
painted a chocolate-brown. 

Inside the bus are posted signs which read, “Stand¬ 
ing room for five only.” Incidentally we overhear the 
regular bus patrons complaining that the buses are 
almost always overcrowded. 

This at once reminds us of the packed cars and 
buses in the great American cities. 

In fair weather the upper deck seats are always 
taken first. Here the tourist gets a much better view 
of the streets than from the windows inside. 

There are a number of bus companies, since the 
roads of London are practically free; and anyone who 
can afford the expense may run a bus line without 
applying for a franchise to the London County Coun¬ 
cil. The big omnibus companies travel the main 
thoroughfares. The largest is the London Gerneral 
Omnibus Company, which owns the great majority 
of the motor omnibuses seen on the streets of London. 

If we stand on almost any street corner in the 
business district during the busiest traffic periods, we 
shall see from 300 to 400 motor omnibuses pass in the 
course of an hour. 

In summer the motor omnibuses run even to the 
suburbs; and we may travel in them to points thirty 
miles distant from the center of London. 

Another feature of long-distance bus travel is the 
motor char-a-banc, which we Americans should call a 
sight-seeing car. In one of these cars we may take a 
flying trip from the heart of London to places fifty 
miles distant. 


26 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 

Before the European War, the hansom cab was a 
common sight on the streets of London, and hansoms 
were numbered by the thousands. Today they are 
rarely seen; and horse-drawn four-wheeled convey¬ 
ances are used only occasionally to carry railway 
passengers with very bulky luggage. Most travelers 
we see at railway stations, however, seem to prefer 
the motor vehicles. 

The extent to which motor traffic has replaced the 
old type in London may be measured by the fact that 
in 1919, out of about 14,000 hackney vehicles licensed 
for hire, fewer than 2,000 were horse-drawn. It has 
been estimated that fully three-fourths of all the 
street traffic is carried on by motor. 

Another from of traffic we shall see in London if 
we use our eyes—a form far more interesting than any 
we have yet seen. In 1921, regular communication 
with the continent of Europe by air was established. 
Four aeroplanes travel daily to Paris; one travels to 
Brussels and one to Amsterdam, all starting from the 
Croydon aerodrome. These air lines connect with 
continental air lines going to other parts of Europe 
and even to Africa, by way of Spain. Several hundred 
passengers are carried weekly by the London line. 

LONDON STREETS. 

The streets of London are the best paved of any 
city in the world. They are washed wdth a fire hose 
every morning, and yet they are dirty for walking, 
because of the changeable weather. 

Mud and filth are never allowed to accumulate. 
This refuse is swept from the asphalt streets by nim- 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


27 


ble-footed boys in white coats. With brush and tray 
in hand they are constantly darting in and out among 
the horses and vehicles of the crowded thoroughfares. 
Most of these boys are from orphans’ homes, and other 
charitable institutions. 

At almost every corner, too, there is a crossing 
sweeper. Sometimes this is a boy or girl, but oftener 
an old man or woman too feeble to earn a living in 
any other way. Day after day and year after year 
they stand at the same posts. The living won in this 
way is a very scant one, for they are dependent on 
the pennies and half pennies dropped into their hands 
by the people who hurry by. 

London streets are narrow and crooked and run 
into each other in a most perplexing way. Where four 
or five streets converge into one point or circle they 
call it circus; such as Ludgate Circus, Piccadilly Circus, 
Oxford Circus, etc. 

It is somewhat difficult to make our way about at 
first, but the policemen are polite and helpful, and 
cheerfully direct us to where we should go. There are 
times when even the people who have lived in London 
all their lives cannot find their way about. This is 
during the foggy weather. It is then necessary to 
turn on the electric street lamps for days at a time. 

There is one curious thing about London that re¬ 
minds us of an old saying that “Birds of a feather 
flock together.” People of the same nationality or 
those of the same profession or trade live in the same 
streets or district. The French live in one neighbor¬ 
hood, the Germans in another. 

Lawyers live at Lincoln’s Inn and the Temple; sur- 


28 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND 



TRAFALGAR SQUARE, LONDON. 










A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


29 


geons and dentists in George and Burlington streets; 
doctors in Harley street, etc. Then the milkmen live 
on Milk Street, the men who deal in honey on Honey 
Street, etc. 

Trafalgar Square is the very heart of the city. 
Every thing starts from there and centers around it. 
Standing by the Nelson Monument we see the most 
wonderful sight which London can give us—its crowds 
of people. One wonders how the city can furnish roofs 
to cover so many. 

There are cabs and buses and hansoms too, vehi¬ 
cles of all kinds and descriptions, three, four and five 
abreast . The procession is endless and keeps up day 
and night, or at least a great part of the night. 

This square was named for England’s great naval 
hero, Lord Nelson. It is his statue you see on the top 
of that high column. It was erected to commemorate 
his victory over the French and Spanish fleets at 
Trafalgar Bay off the coast of Spain in 1805. In this 
battle Nelson was mortally wounded. There are other 
statues of brave soldiers in the square also, and one 
of George IV, one of England’s former kings. On the 
northern side of this square is the National Gallery, 
which contains a fine collection of pictures. 

A little south of the square is a statue of King 
Charles I. This marks a place called Charing Cross. 
Back of this is a story. Everything in England, you 
will find, has a story. There is no cross there, but 
there was once upon a time. It was called Charing 
Cross in honor of Eleanor, the wife of King Edward I. 
She died in the north of England, and her husband 
had her body carried to Westminster Abbey. 


30 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


Every evening during this journey her body rested 
in the market place of some town. Wherever it rested 
the king afterward had a beautiful cross erected. The 
last evening of the journey the bier rested in the vil¬ 
lage of Charing, which is now a part of London, near 
Trafalgar Square. So now you know why the name 
clings to the place even though the cross is gone. 



THE STRAND, LONDON. 

From Charing Cross we enter the Strand, one of the 
busiest and most crowded streets of London. On this 
street are the finest theaters of London, the law courts, 
and many of the newspaper offices and shops. The 
street is called Strand because this was the road near¬ 
est to the shore or strand of the Thames River. 





A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 31 

Passing down the Strand we come to London’s 
Courts, or the Royal Courts of Justice. For centuries 
this has been the place of England’s celebrated school 
of law. The building is a huge one, nearly 500 feet in 
length, and contains eleven hundred chambers or 
apartments, beside the large central hall and nineteen 
court-rooms. Many lawyers and students of law live 
in this building, as students live in colleges. 

The Strand now runs into Fleet Street, Temple Bar 
marking the place where the one street ends and the 
other begins. 

Fleet Street is one of the great thoroughfares where 
most of the daily papers are published. Then come 
Regent and Oxford Streets, the two dry goods centers, 
and Cheapside, the most crowded of them all. 

The traffic of this street is one of the sights of Lon¬ 
don. What a hurly-burly and crush of cabs, hansoms, 
hand carts, wagons, buses and vans in one narrow 
street. It seems as if all the shops in the world are 
sending their goods along this old market-way of 
Cheapside. 

Cheapside means market place, but it is now noted 
for its stores rather than its market place. From this 
street we notice a number of streets running to left 
and right, named Poultry street, Wood, Bread and 
Milk streets; these we are told have been named after 
the dealers by whom they are occupied. 

Leaving Cheapside we ride down Poultry street to 
see the place where the London people tell us 
Thomas Hood, the poet, was born. Do you remember 
what he says about this house? 

Milk street is also celebrated as the birth place of 


32 


A. LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


Sir Thomas More, an author and a cardinal. Do you 
know what it means to be a cardinal? There on 
Bread street lived the famous John Milton, whose 
“Paradise Lost” you have seen in your father’s li¬ 
brary. 

So you see that these streets, tho possessing com¬ 
mon names, are really quite celebrated and are as apt 
to be sought out as those having finer sounding 
titles. 



MANSION HOUSE, OFFICIAL RESIDENCE OF LONDON S LORD MAYOR. 

THE RICHEST SQUARE. 

We are now in the part of London called “the city.” 
More business is transacted in this square than in any 
other section of the world. Near the corner of King 
William street is the Mansion House, the official 
residence of the Lord Mayor of London. The mayor 
is a great personage in the eyes of his countrymen, and 
receives two-thirds as much salary as our president. 













A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


33 


Unlike most mayors he rules over but one square 
mile of this immense city. But this one is the richest 
mile of territory in all the wide world. It contains 
the Bank of England, the mint, the stock and produce 
exchange and London’s only cathedral. 



BANK OF ENGLAND, LONDON. 

Suppose we visit some of these important build¬ 
ings. The Bank of England, the greatest bank in the 
world, we find to be almost opposite the Mansion 
House. It is amusing to learn that this celebrated 
and dignified structure is on Threadneedle street. 
The bank is a one story building, covering four acres 
of ground. Its walls are of granite and are very thick. 
The outer walls have no windows. The rooms receive 
light from inner courts and skylights. 









34 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


TLis famous old bank, which is familiarly known 
as the “Old Lady of Threadneedle Street,” has two 
branches in London and nine in the provinces. It is 
managed by a board of directors, a governor, and a 
deputy governor, the two latter always being present 
to direct, its affairs. 

THE ROYAL EXCHANGE. 

Across from the Bank is the Royal Exchange. 
The west front has a porch which is considered the 
finest thing of the kind in England. It has seventeen 
large figures in the pediment. These figures repre¬ 
sent Commerce or Trade, the Lord Mayor and mer¬ 
chants of different nationalities. 

Every day bankers and other wealthy men come 
here to transact business. The prices fixed by these 
men on grains, wool and cotton are quickly sent to 
every part of the world and affect business in America 
and many other parts of the earth. 

In one part of the building are Lloyd’s Subscription 
Rooms. This is the greatest shipping firm in the 
world. Every man engaged in a large shipping busi¬ 
ness sends to Lloyd’s for shipping news, marine in¬ 
surance and other shipping business. Boats have to 
be insured as well as houses, you see. A register is 
kept here of all the ships. This register tells us about 
the age, build and seaworthiness of the ship. You 
see how necessary this would be if a man wished to 
buy or sell a ship, or insure it. 

In front of the Royal Exchange is a fine equestrian 
statue of the Duke of Wellington, another English 
hero. In what way is an equestrian statue different 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 35 

from other statues? Was Lord Nelson’s an eques¬ 
trian statue? Why not? Did he win his battles on 
land or sea? There are two other statues near the 
building, one of George Peabody, an American, and 
the other of Rowland Hill. The monument was 



BLACK FRIAR’S BRIDGE AND ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL, LONDON. 

erected to Mr. Hill because he did so much to intro¬ 
duce cheap postage. But why should a statue have 
been erected on this spot in memory of Mr. Peabody? 
Can any one tell? Mr. Peabody was the first American 
to receive the freedom of London. So you see the 
English people have especially honored him. 








36 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL. 

About half a mile west of the Bank is St. Paul’s 
Cathedral. A long way off we can see its lofty dome, 
surmounted by a golden cross, but it is so surrounded 
by tall buildings that a view of the whole church is 
impossible. 

All around the church is a street called St. Paul’s 
Churchyard, but the neighboring buildings are so close 
as to spoil the effect of the cathedral when standing 
near it. 

We pay one shilling to see the sights at St, Paul’s, 
and for two hours roam about the place studying the 
clock, the library, the whispering gallery and crypt. 
It is a large and beautiful building, but inside the 
walls look bare. It has a great bell which strikes the 
hour, but is never rung except on the death of some 
member of the royal family, the Lord Mayor or the 
Bishop of London. There are many statues of English 
heroes in the church and the tomb of two of England’s 
greatest men, Wellington and Nelson. In the crypt 
are also the tombs of three famous English painters, 
Turner, Reynolds and Landseer. 

In the vault of the church is the tomb of the man 
who built the church. His name was Sir Christopher 
Wren. The church was thirly-five years in building 
and was finished in 1710. It was paid for chiefly by a 
tax on coal. Sir Christopher built fifty churches in 
London, but St. Paul’s is the finest of them all. 

Not far away is St. Swithins Church, where is kept 
the London Stone. This stone has for a thousand 
years been used to mark off distances. All distances 
in London were measured from this stone. If a man 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


37 


living in the suburbs of London tells you he lives fif¬ 
teen miles from the city he means fifteen miles from 
this stone. 

THE BRITISH MUSEUM. 

Near the city is the British Museum, which contains 
a larger collection of books, manuscripts, coins, curi¬ 
osities, medals and antiquities than any other museum 
in the world. In one of the rooms one may see the Elgin 
marbles, brought from Athens, Greece, about a hun¬ 
dred years ago. They consist of statues, reliefs and 
yards of a frieze. The frieze represents in low relief a 
procession of men, women and horses, chariots and an¬ 
imals for sacrifice, all going to celebrate the festival 
of Athena. 

These marbles are exquisitely beautiful and are ad¬ 
mired by every one who comes to the museum. They 
are called the Elgin marbles because they were bought 
by Lord Elgin. He sold them to the English govern¬ 
ment for half what was paid for them. 

The Egyptian room contains the famous Rosetta 
stone, with its lettering of Greek and Egyptian char¬ 
acters. It was this stone that furnished the infor¬ 
mation that enabled scholars to read the language of 
the Egyptians. Inscriptions on old wooden statues 
and granite columns thousands of years old, and the 
history of these early days were made clear and 
plain. 

The streets surrounding the museum are quiet and 
afford homes or lodging places to many students, writ¬ 
ers and scholars. It is a favorite neighborhood with 
them because of the assistance the museum gives them 
in their work and studies. 



38 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 

THE DOCKS AND THAMES RIVER. 

We have learned that London is the first city in 
commerce in the world, and have not far to look for 
the reasons for this. One reason is because of its situ¬ 
ation. It is built on the Thames river fifty miles 
from the coast. This river is navigable to London for 
ships of the largest size. Then too, the city is cen- 


PICCADILLY. 

trally situated with regard to other lands. It is near 
to the continent and to trade through the Suez canal 
or around the Cape of Good Hope. 

The Thames river is always crowded with shipping 
and both shores are bordered by docks, wharves and 
huge warehouses for all sorts of merchandise and 
vaults for wines. 








A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


39 


The London docks cover 3,000 acres, 704 of which 
are water. They have 30 miles of wharves. In the 
period from 1909 to 1921, they were widely extended. 
An important addition was the great Albert dock. 

One sees the same pictures during an hour at the 
London docks as at the Liverpool docks. So we decide to 
take a steamer for a ride on the Thames. It will give 
us an excellent view of the bridges, the fine embank¬ 
ments, the London Tower and the splendid Houses of 
Parliament. 

Of all the famous rivers of the world, the Thames is 
one of the smallest and most famous. In size it is a 
mere creek, but its history has more of interest to the 
English reader or traveler than any other stream. 

For centuries kings and queens have lived beside it, 
going from their court in London to find rest or recre¬ 
ation at some riverside place. 

It is one of the greatest pleasure resorts in the 
world. Every fine day in summer it is thronged with 
holiday makers in every imaginable kind of craft. 
There are row-boats, house-boats, punts, steam 
launches and even gondolas. 

The river is spanned by many bridges. Some of 
these are used by the public and others by the rail¬ 
roads. 

There is a tunnel under the river, and underground 
railways. Not far from the docks, up the river, we 
come upon the Tower,a grim, dismal old building that 
was at one time England's state prison. 

Let us stop and take a look at the Tower bridge, of 
which we have read in our guide book. It is said that 
it took eight years to build this bridge and that it 


40 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


cost six million dollars and a number of lives. It is 
different from other bridges we have seen. It has 
three spans. 

The roadway in the central span shows us a space 
200 feet long and 50 feet wide. Beneath this road¬ 
way is a span 30 feet high, under which small boats 
can pass. 

When large ships come up the river traffic must stop 
for a time. The roadbed parts in the middle, and 
each half rises to a vertical position, to allow the ship 
to pass; this takes but a minute. The foot passen¬ 
gers do not have to wait. They enter an elevator in 
the bridge tower and are lifted to the high level foot¬ 
way 112 feet above. We should like to visit the tower 
too, but this will take a long time and must be post¬ 
poned until another day. 

Not far away is London Bridge, but before we stop 
there we will take a look at Billingsgate, the principal 
fish market in London. The fish are brought here in 
boats in great quantities, and sold to both retail and 
wholesale fish dealers. The busiest hours are at five 
and six in the morning. 

Beyond the fish market is the oldest and most 
famous of all the bridges of the Thames—London 
Bridge. The first one was built hundreds of years ago, 
but that is not the one we see to-day. The present 
bridge is a magnificent one, 900 ft. long and 54 wide, 
built of granite. This bridge is said to have cost $10,- 
000,000. It has lamp posts made from the cannon 
captured during one of England's w r ars. 

Long ago the heads of traitors were set up on the 
iron spikes of London Bridge to terrify evil-doers. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND 


41 



RICHMOND PALACE GROUNDS, PROM THE THAMES. 












42 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


There used to be stores on this bridge too, but as the 
city grew, more space was needed and they were taken 
away. To-day, London Bridge is the most crowded 
place in the city. Thousands of vehicles and hundreds 
of thousands of people cross it every twenty-four hours. 

The embankment above London Bridge has been 
made a beautiful place. The river is edged with a 
granite wall eight feet thick and forty feet high ex¬ 
tending from Black Friars Bridge to Westminster 
Bridge. A wide roadway borders the river, and foot¬ 
ways, planted with trees. This embankment is 
known as the Victoria Embankment. 

The Westminster bridge we find to be the finest of 
all the bridges of London. It is eighty-five feet wide, 
is built of iron and rests on stone piers. 

Following up the river we reach the suburbs of 
London. The Thames, is here bordered by pleasant 
homes with green lawns sloping down to the water's 
edge. There are many skiffs or boats on the river, 
where boys and men are practicing for the races which 
are held every year. Picked teams from all the princi¬ 
pal English clubs take part in this Royal Regatta, or 
rowing carnival, and excited crowds gather to witness 
the fun. 

Suppose we return now and visit the Tower of 
London. 

THE TOWER OF LONDON. 

London has many towers, but this is the most 
noted and interesting of all. It is in East London, near 
St. Catherines Docks. Once a fortress, a royal resi¬ 
dence, a court of justice and a prison, it is now but a 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


43 


government store-house. The building is very old, so 
old that no one knows exactly when it was begun. 

The buildings known as the Tower are surrounded 
by a battlemented wall and deep moat. At one time 
this moat was filled with water and the only way to 
reach the tower was by means of a drawbridge. The 
high walls and moat were for defence, in case of attack 


r 



TOWER OF LONDON. 


by enemies. When the bridge was drawn up the at¬ 
tacking party had no way to reach the gates. 

There are three entrances, the Iron Gate, the Water 
Gate, the Traitor's Gate, all from the Thames. Then 
there is the Lion's Gate, the ordinary entrance on the 
west side. Traitor's Gate was so called because polit¬ 
ical prisoners were so often taken to the Tower in this 
way. Princes and nobles, lords and ladies, and even 
queens have entered the gates, and many of them never 












44 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


came out again. If they did they thought themselves 
very lucky. 

We will not go in that way, but by the Lion’s Gate, 
on the west side. The Tower is guarded by quaintly 
dressed warders, or, as some people call them, “beef¬ 
eaters.” These men have been soldiers and are now 
members of a body of men or policemen called Yeo¬ 
men of the Guard. One of the guards acts as our 
guide through the tower. 

Let us enter by the Lion’s Gate. We receive tick¬ 
ets of admission and cross the bridge that spans the 
moat, pass through the Byward Tower and so reach 
the inside of this great prison. Inside the battlement 
wall is another and higher wall, and between the two 
a space, or court. We are now in this outer court. 
Both the walls are strengthened by towers and in the 
central space, or inner court, rises a grand tower. 

We come first to the gateway of the Bloody Tower 
and pass through it to the great inner court. It was 
so named because some little princes were murdered 
here by order of the king. There are thirteen towers 
in all, each having a historical name. Among them 
are the White Tower, the Bell Tower, the Wakefield 
Tower, Middle Tower and Brick Tower. 

In these prisons and gloomy chambers many noble 
prisoners have been imprisoned for years, pined away 
and died. The walls of White Tower are fifteen feet 
thick. Just imagine such a prison. It was here that 
Sir Walter Raleigh was imprisoned for twelve years. 
He was sentenced to death, but the king did not dare 
to have him executed, and so confined him here. It was 
in this tower he wrote his History of the World. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


45 


William Penn was also imprisoned in this tower at 
one time. 

On Tower Hill outside the moat stood the scaffold 
for the execution of prisoners. Within the walls is 
St. Peter’s Chapel, and near it is the burying ground 
where the noble prisoners were buried. 

The most interesting room of all to many is the 
upper room of the Record Tower, where crown jewels 
or regalia are kept. There are a number of crowns, 
Queen Victoria’s being the finest. It is set with 
almost three thousand beautiful diamonds, besides 
rubies and sapphires. The crown of the Prince of 
Wales was of gold, and without jewels. There are 
many other beautiful and costly things, the whole 
collection being valued at $15,000,000. 

The largest diamond belonging to the British sov¬ 
ereign is called the Kohinoor, or Mountain of Light. 
Its value is nearly half a million dollars. This jewel 
is kept at Windsor, but a model of it is shown here 
with the crown jewels. There are also bracelets, and 
swords, and crosses, and scepters, and royal spurs, the 
salt cellar of state, made to imitate the White Tower. 
These are kept in cases of glass and iron and carefully 
guarded. 

There are two armories, Queen Elizabeth’s Armory 
and the Horse Armory. In the former are swords, 
lances, halberds, pikes and other ancient arms, as 
well as instruments of punishment. In the armory 
are the figures of twenty-two mounted kings and 
knights in full armor, showing the different styles of 
armor worn at different times. 

Some of the instruments of torture used by the 


46 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 

English people of past centuries are to be seen in one 
of these towers, and fearful looking instruments they 
were. First and worst of these was the executioner's 
axe, with which so many noted prisoners were be¬ 
headed. Its first victim was a queen; so you see that 
members of the royalty were quite as apt to suffer 
death in this way as others. 

Sometimes the branding iron was used for the pur¬ 
pose of burning the figure of a gallows upon a man's 
face. There is also a revolving iron cage, the barrel 
for the punishment of bakers who defrauded the peo¬ 
ple by giving false weight. The stocks and whipping 
post were also used, and a ducking stool for scolding 
women. 

If we are to believe the stories of olden times, we 
must believe that there were a great many scolding 
wives and ill-tempered women, called shrews, among 
the English. This ducking stool was a long beam of 
wood balanced on a pivot over a river or pond. It 
was so arranged that the scold could be dropped into 
the water and lifted out again before she was drowned. 
This method of punishment was found to be very un¬ 
satisfactory, and an iron bonnet was next used. This 
was put over the head and mouth and fastened with 
a padlock. 

The stories of the crimes and tragedies of this 
tower would fill a whole book. Many, or perhaps 
most of the prisoners confined and executed here were 
innocent of the crimes of which they were accused. 
No one was safe from w T rongful imprisonment, and 
perhaps death. The dread of this tower inspired a 
desire on the part of many to find a refuge, or coun- 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


47 


try where they might be safe from injustice. So you 
see that if it had not been for this, our ancestors might 
not have come to America. We may be indebted 
to the tower more than we imagine. 



WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 


WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 

The most interesting building in London to many 
visitors is Westminster Abbey. England’s kings and 
queens for eight hundred years have been crowned 









48 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


and buried there. It was first designed for the burial 
place of kings and queens only, but after a time Eng¬ 
land’s great and good men were honored by having 
their bodies laid to rest beside those of royal blood. 
Today this building contains the graves of more 
famous men and women than any other in the whole 
world. 

The building is celebrated for its beauty as well as 
its age, and to get the best view one should approach 
it from the front. The walls are dingy and grimy, 
for the atmosphere is laden with dust and smoke of 
many factory chimneys. 

Inside the building all is hushed and still. A few 
visitors like ourselves are wandering about, or sitting 
in the pews reading books. At first we think they are 
prayer books but a closer view reveals guide books, 
similar to our own. There is no talking or noise of 
any kind, tho outside the thick walls the din of the 
streets is deafening. 

Are we disappointed at first? Perhaps, a little. 
We have expected so much. The walls and floors are 
dark and worn, but after a time the beauty and mag¬ 
nificence of the place impress us, as they have all 
others. The vaulted roof, pointed arches, clustered 
pillars and carved stalls first attract our attention, and 
we wander about for a long time fascinated by the 
place. 

We visit first the tomb of Edward the Confessor, 
who founded the Abbey. It is one of the oldest tombs 
here. His shrine is a most beautiful one. 

In the chapel behind the altar where Edward is 
buried stands the old English Coronation Chair. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 49 

Seated in this chair all the sovereigns of England since 
Edward’s day have been crowned. In the seat of 
the chair is the famous Scone Stone on which the 
Scottish kings used to be crowned. The Scots be¬ 
lieved it to be the stone on which Jacob rested his 
head in the desert. It was a great blow to the Scot¬ 
tish people when this stone was taken away from them 
by the English king. 

The Jerusalem Chambers are interesting tt> most 
people. The tapestries of the walls represent scenes 
from Jerusalem and the cedar wainscot came from 
the Holy Land. It is noted as the place where the 
common version of the Bible was made. It is also 
the room where the Westminster Assembly of minis¬ 
ters has always met. It is these men who have given 
us the Confession of Faith and the Longer and Shorter 
Catechisms. 

The most beautiful part of the Abbey is Henry VIEs 
chapel. It is separated from the rest by a flight of 
stairs and brass gates. The walls are covered with 
tracery and contain the statues of many saints and 
martyrs. The tomb of Henry VII is of black marble, 
elaborately carved, and effigies of the king and queen 
in gilt bronze, recline upon the tomb. 

Two other most interesting tombs in this chapel 
are those of Queen Elizabeth and her lovely but un¬ 
lucky sister Mary Stuart, Queen of the Scots. Their 
tombs are much alike. 

There are many statues in different parts of the 
building. One could spend hours in wandering about 
looking at the busts, figures and monuments of Eng¬ 
land’s famous men, and reading their epitaphs Some 


50 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 

are erected to great statesmen, others to naval com¬ 
manders, to soldiers and to the former deans of West¬ 
minster. 

Our own war with England is brought to mind by 
the sight of the monument to Major Andre. You re¬ 
member, do you not, that he was hung as a spy in 
America? But he was a brave soldier and after the 
Revolution his body was sent back to England with 
every mark of respect and consideration. It was laid 
here in the Abbey and this fine monument erected to 
mark the spot. 

Britannia is represented as mourning over his early 
death. The bas-relief on one side of the tomb repre¬ 
sents a British officer carrying a flag of truce and a 
letter to the tent of Washington with the request of 
Andre that as a soldier he might be shot, and not hung. 
The request was not granted, but the sculptor has 
pictured the death scene as Andre wished it. 

General Burgoyne, whose surrender at Saratoga lost 
America to England, has no monument. He was not 
buried in the Abbey, but in the North cloister. 

In one place we notice a slab which records the fact 
that the grave beneath was the resting place for a 
time of the body of George Peabody. On the slab are 
also carved the words of his early prayer that if God 
prospered him he would render some memorial service 
to his fellow-men. Do you know how he kept his 
word? 

POETS’ CORNER WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 

One chapel in the Abbey is called Poets’ Corner. 
In it are buried many of England’s great writers, while 
others have monuments, busts or tablets. Dickens 



been given to the Abbey in honor of the poet Cowper* 
and George Herbert, by a wealthy American. 

Near by the cathedral is the Westminster School 
for the choirboys, for both St. Paul's and Westminster 
have boy choirs. These boys are chosen from hun¬ 
dreds of applicants, and must be between the ages of 
eight and ten. They are required to remain until they 
have served their full term, and while members of the 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 51 

and Thackeray are both buried here. There are busts- 
of Shakespeare and Milton and many other poets, but 
Longfellow is the only foreigner honored by having 
his bust placed in the Abbey. 

A stained-glass window has been placed here in 
memory of Lowell. Other windows have recently 


POETS’ CORNER, WESTMINSTER ABBEY. 















52 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


choir they are boarded and receive an excellent high- 
school education. On one day of each week they are 
allowed to go to their own playground in the country 
and have their holidays at Christmas, Easter and mid¬ 
summer. In some of the boy choirs, the best singers 
receive a salary. 

If we were to come to the Abbey to hear them sing, 
Sunday afternoon, we. would feel ourselves well paid 
for the trouble. We would find the church crowded 
with eager listeners, two or three thousand, or even 
more. Many are glad to stand through a long service 
for the sake of the eloquent sermon and the beautiful 
music one is sure to hear. 

WESTMINSTER PALACE. 

The building next to the Abbey is Westminster 
Hall, which forms the grand entrance to the new Par¬ 
liament Buildings. This Hall is very old and has an 
interesting history. Kings have been crowned in it 
and grand banquets given. It has been the scene of 
many famous trials too. 

The hall is one of the largest jn the world, being 
300 feet long and 70 wide. The ceiling is of wood and 
finely carved. There is also a St. Stephen's Hall, which 
contains statues of celebrated English statesmen, and 
a Central Hall which separates the House of Commons 
from the House of Peers. 

The English laws are made by Parliament which 
consists of two legislative bodies, the House of Lords 
and the House of Commons. The members of the 
House of Commons are elected by the people. West¬ 
minster Palace contains rooms for the assemblage of 
these bodies of men. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 53 



WESTMINSTER PALACE, HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT. 















54 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


The Houses of Parliament are modern buildings. 
They cover eight acres, contain eleven hundred rooms, 
one hundred staircases and eleven courts. The buildings 
are of stone and decorated with five hundred statues. 

The main building has three towers. At the north 
end, next to Westminster Bridge, is the clock tower. It 
is 318 feet high and contains a monster clock. This 
clock has four dials, and each of these dials measures 
twenty-three feet across. Another remarkable thing 
about this clock is that half a day is required to wind 
it up. 

The central tower is smaller and lower than the 
clock tower. At the other end of the building is the 
beautiful tower called Victoria Tower. It is 340 feet 
high and contains the entrance through which the 
queen passed when she visited Parliament, 

Entering the House of Commons, we find it smaller 
than the House of Representatives at Washington. 
There is a reason for this. It was thought best to 
make it small in order that all might hear distinctly. 
The room looks much like the interior of an old church. 

The ceilings, walls and furniture are of dark carved 
wood. The windows are of stained glass and the room 
is but dimly lighted. Galleries run around the four 
sides of the room. One is for newspaper reporters, 
another is for gentlemen visitors. There is another 
gallery higher up for ladies. The. hall has seats, but 
no desks. 

The House of Peers occupies the southern half of 
the new part of the Houses oTParliament. The room 
is handsomely finished in oak, leather and gold. The 
throne in this room, and in Queen Victoria’s time, 



A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND 


55 



SESSION CHAMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS, PALACE OF WESTMINSTER. 











56 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 

she came here annually to open Parliament and make 
her speech. The chair of state resembles the “corona¬ 
tion chair.” It is ornamented with the national flow¬ 
ers of England, Ireland and Scotland—the rose, sham¬ 
rock and thistle. 

In the central part are seats for the Lords or Peers. 
When the Queen opened Parliament the members of 



PALL MALL, LONDON. 

the House of Commons as well as the Peers assembled 
in this room. We should like to have been here dur¬ 
ing Gladstone’s life and have heard one of his wonder¬ 
ful speeches. He was England’s prime minister, and 
in America as well as in England we hear him spoken 
of as the “Grand Old Man.” 










A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 57 

BUCKINGHAM PALACE. 

Royalty, when in London, lives in Buckingham 
Palace on the Mall, a wide, pleasant street, leading 
from the government offices and fashionable clubs. 



FORMER yC/iLriiT ALEXANDRA • 



58 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 

This palace was one of the early homes of Queen Vic¬ 
toria, and here the late Edward VII was born. 

On the first floor are the Throne Room, the Grand 
Saloon, the Green Drawing-Room, the Ball Room, 
Picture Gallery and many other rooms. The 
Queen’s Drawing Rooms were held in this building. 
These affairs were receptions. On drawing-room days 
this street was thronged with the carriages of the 
people who came to pay their respects to the queen 
and other members of the royal family who re¬ 
ceived with her. Young ladies belonging to the 
aristocratic families were not considered as having 
entered society until they were presented to the 
queen or “at court.” 

Since-the death of Queen Victoria, two queens, the 
Dowager Queen Alexandra and the present queen, 
Mary, have entertained in great splendor at the palace. 

Queen Victoria spent part of the season at Windsor 
Castle, at the little town of Windsor, twenty miles 
from London. We shall take an excursion to Windsoi 
Palace another day. 

A WALK IN LONDON. 

London is so crowded that there does not appear to 
be room for the people. There are so many that they 
are obliged to push each other out of the way in order 
to get along at all, in the busy streets. 

All the men in the streets are dressed in black. 
There is not a straw hat to be seen or a light felt one, 
altho it is quite warm. 

There is a very good reason for this, however, and 
we find it out before we have been in London many 


A LITLLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


59 



days. The air is full of particles of soot, and our faces, 
light traveling suits and hats are soon changed in 
color. We are obliged to wash our face and hands 

every three or 
four hours to 
prevent our¬ 
selves becoming 
as black as the 
London chim¬ 
ney sweeps. 

It is the smoke 
and soot that 
makes the 
houses so black 
and dingy look¬ 
ing. It does not 
seem to affect 
the complexions 
of the people, 
however. They 
have fine, fair, 
ruddy faces and 
look healthy and 
vigorous. The 
London chimney sweep. people seem tall¬ 

er and heavier than the people of any other coun¬ 
try we have visited. Their faces have more color, the 
result of their outdoor life. 

They are both courteous and kind too, and answer 
pleasantly and cheerfully our many questions about 
London. They are proud of their city and quite will¬ 
ing to point out the historic land-marks of the place. 









60 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


Sunday is a delightful time for a ramble about the 
old streets and ancient buildings, interesting to all the 
world because of their histories. At this time one can 
walk’ through the streets without being crowded or 
jostled or run over. It is a quiet day and few people 
or vehicles are in the streets. The great chimneys 
have ceased smoking, and the air is free from soot. 
The sky is blue and clear and without the dust and 
smoke of other days. 

We find many historic places connected with the 
lives of famous Americans. In the church of St. Sav¬ 
ior, the next finest Gothic church in London, John 
Harvard was christened. Why are we interested in 
him? Because he founded our oldest university. 

At Bears Head Tavern, Irving spent some time. 
What fascinating pictures of English life he found 
here and gave to us in his “ Sketch Book.” 

Every Christmas we read it with new delight. If 
only we might see inside some of these happy homes 
that look so dingy and uninteresting from the outside, 
we, too, might carry with us pleasant memories of the 
home life of these people. 

We have heard it said that if one were to follow 
Dickens as he shows us London in his books, he 
would see almost the whole of the city. We cannot 
do that, for many of the buildings he has mentioned 
have been torn down or removed. 

But we can find the “ Old Curiosity Shop,” which 
is still used as a place of business. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


61 



“OLD CURIOSITY SHOP.” 

. CHARLES DICKENS. 

Charles Dickens was one of the world’s greatest 
story tellers, and many people think that he did more 
to better the condition of the poor people of England 
and to bring wrongs to light than all the statesmen 
Great Britain ever sent to Parliament. He was a 
great teacher, for he taught the whole world lessons 
of the value of kindness, of generosity and of unself¬ 
ishness. 

Would you like to know how he was able to do 
this? It was not because he was favored in any way 
by good luck. He was a sickly little fellow, and did 
not go to school or mingle with the other boys much 




62 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


in their lively games. His mother taught him how to 
read, and amused him during his years of ill-health 
by telling him stories. 

When Charles Dickens was about nine years old, 
his father lost his money and was thrown into prison 
because he could not pay his debts. In those days it 
was a crime for a man not to pay his debts, and if he 
failed to do so, he was promptly put into a debtor 
prison. 

These were troubled days for the family, and 
Charles was obliged to go to work in a London black¬ 
ing manufactory to earn a little money. He hated 
this work, for while in the factory he was thrown with 
low, rough, dishonest companions, who bullied and 
tormented him. He had hoped to be able to become 
famous as a scholar, yet here were all his plans 
spoiled. 

There were many other children around him, how¬ 
ever, who were as unfortunate and miserable as he, 
and his sympathy for these other lonely, oppressed 
children was so great that he tried to be brave in 
order to help them. He sang songs and told funny 
stories, which he acted out in a ridiculous way, in 
order to amuse and cheer up his friends. 

He spent his evenings and every spare minute he 
could find in the reading room of the British Museum, 
which we have lately visited. After a time the father had 
money left to him, and then Charles was able to go to 
school. He grew well and strong, and was at last 
able to have the books he loved so much. 

After a time he entered a lawyer’s office and 
studied shorthand. He worked so faithfully at this 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


63 


that lie soon became very proficient, and was offered a 
position as reporter on a newspaper. When engaged 
in this work he met all classes of people and had good 
opportunities to study the lives of the poor people 
about him. 

When about twenty-one, he wrote his first story 
and sent it to a magazine. When it was printed he 
was delighted beyond measure, and immediately 
wrote others. They were not at all like the stories 
published in the books and magazines at that time, 
and became popular almost at once. 

At the age of twenty-five he had published two 
volumes of his sketches, and had begun the book 
which made him famous. This book was “ Pickwick 
Papers.” Near our hotel is the inn where Mr. Pick¬ 
wick had his quarrel with the cabman. 

In Dickens 7 next book he tells the story of a poor 
orphan, Oliver Twist, who like himself had been 
thrown among scenes of misery and want. He re¬ 
membered his factory days, and the children who 
were cruelly treated. He had wished to do something 
to relieve the children who were ill-treated, and now 
he saw an opportunity to do so. 

So he wrote this story and others to attract atten¬ 
tion to these evils, which he wished people to see, 
to know and correct. 

Then he wrote Nicholas Nickleby, and what an up¬ 
roar it did bring about! The Squeers of this story was 
so very much like several English schoolmasters that 
they thought he had written the story about them, and 
sued him for slander. Do you know what that means? 

After this came the sad story of “Little Nell/ 7 and 


64 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


the “Old Curiosity Shop,” and so many others I can 
not name them here. In the book which is most pop- 



CHARLES DICKENS. 

ular of all, “David Copperfield,” we find the story of 
his own life. In “Little Dorrit” he tells of the debt- 




A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 65 

ors’ prison. This too is a picture from the memory of 
Pickens’ own childhood, as he used to visit his father 
when confined there. 

With a master hand he has painted the home life 
of the English people, ^whether humble or great. 
Among the best of these are his Christmas stories. 
Dickens loved the ancient customs and especially the 
Christmas festival. No one who has ever read. his 
Christmas Carol will ever forget Tiny Tim, and old 
Ebenezer Scrooge. It leaves one wishing to live and 
do more for others. It is full of good will and sympa¬ 
thy for the poor, as Dickens himself was. 

He never forgot his own sad life, and tried to keep 
sorrow from other little ones. When Dickens died his 
body was laid to rest in Westminster Abbey. Many 
school children came, each bearing a flower, until the 
grave was nearly filled with blossoms. 

THE EAST END. 

Now let us visit the East End, where live so many 
of the poor and wretched whose sad lives Dickens has 
pictured for us and whose wrongs he helped to right. 

In this part of London we find the streets narrow, 
dark and dirty. The buildings are so high that the 
sunshine rarely finds its way into these homes, and the 
air is foul with bad odors arising from the unclean sur¬ 
roundings. The wretched tenement houses that hold 
London’s poor are here crowded together. What a 
dismal picture they make! 

These houses are divided up into small rooms, into 
which whole families are often crowded. In this one 
room they must live, eat and sleep. 


66 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


There are no yards or trees or playgrounds for the 
children. They must play in the streets or the gut¬ 
ters. There are no wide pleasant porches where the 
tired workmen and their families may gather in the 
evening. On the doorsteps of these cheerless places 
lounge many idle, half-drunken men and women. 

Whitechapel is the home of the evil-doer, the thief 
and outcast, as well as the poor, and to walk in some 
streets in this part of London even by day is to place 
one’s life in danger. Drink has brought many to this 
neighborhood, who, in days of prosperity, lived in the 
West End. 

Dirty, ragged children swarm about some of the open 
windows. At others pale, haggard women sit sewing. 
They are making garments for the shops or factories and 
are obliged to toil early and late in order to earn enough 
to buy the poorest kind of food. Day after day, 
month after month, they spend in this way. without a 
breath of fresh, pure air, or a glimpse of the beautiful 
country just a few miles beyond. 

Do you wonder that the people who live here com¬ 
mit crimes? Do you think that it would be easy to be 
good, living in such a place? No wonder that Dick¬ 
ens’ heart ached for them. 

We are glad, very glad, to get away from all this 
misery back to a more pleasant part of London. If we 
turn our steps to the part of the city south of the river 
we shall find factories and residences. North of the river 
and city proper are the districts where the middle 
class live—the tradesmen and prosperous working 
people. 

Now let us look at the West End. It is as differ- 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 67 

ent from the East End as day is different from night, 
there are no smoky factories there. The air is fresh 
and free from smoke, the streets wide, clean and at¬ 
tractive. There are parks too, where the people may 
sit, walk, ride or drive. 

The houses that line the streets are palaces or 
stately dwellings of brick and stone, and in them live 
London’s lords and ladies, and the wealthy and fortu¬ 
nate. 

LONDON PARKS. 

No city in the world has so many fine parks, pleas¬ 
ure grounds and “green” squares as London. A walk 
through these shows the love that the English people 
have for trees and flowers and green things growing. 
Some of the parks belong to the Crown, and are con¬ 
trolled by His Majesty’s commissioner and cared for 
by men who wear the royal livery. Among these are 
Hyde Park, Kensington Gardens, Regent’s Park, 
Greenwich Park, Kew Gardens. 

Others belong to the people, or at least such as are 
fortunate enough to live near them. Parks are in¬ 
tended for the poor as well as the rich, but many of 
them seldom see or use them. The most of the parks 
are in the West End and are too far removed from 
the homes of the poor. The East End has one 
tiny park of three acres that was formerly a church 
yard. It has been made attractive with fountains, 
ferneries and flowers, and a delightful resting place for 
many who could never go to the other parks. Victo¬ 
ria Park is also a heaven of beauty to tens of thousands 
of children and toiling fathers and mothers. 


68 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


St. James and Green Parks are in the midst of the 
city, near the West End. Near St. James Park are 
St. James Street and Piccadilly—famous for their club 
houses. These are the favorite resorts for men of 
wealth and fashion. Much of their time is spent there, 
and some of them know no other homes. 

There are many other clubs in various parts of Lon¬ 
don, where workmen may congregate and spend their 
evenings. Indeed it is said that in no other city in the 
world will one find so many. 

Regent’s Park is a magnificent place for games of 
all kinds. On Sunday the people gather there in large 
numbers for divine worship, and these open air ser¬ 
vices and the music are very attractive. 

This park contains the Zoological Gardens, and that 
accounts perhaps for the troops of children with their 
nurses or teachers that we see there. The famous 
“ Jumbo,” that Mr. Barnum brought to this country, 
lived in this park before it was. brought to America. 

Many tourists come to the celebrated Kew Gardens 
for their botanical collections. Here are mammoth 
green houses and gardens, green lawns and forests. It 
makes one think of fairyland, and is a quiet, peaceful 
spot in which to rest or study. 

Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens together make 
the largest park in London. It is frequented by the 
wealthy and aristocratic people of the city. This park 
contains an ornamental lake called the Serpentine, and a 
wide street called Rotton Row. This road is used only 
by those on horseback, and from twelve to two o’clock 
one may see fashionable ladies and gentlemen on high¬ 
bred, spirited horses, horsemen in jockey costume, and 
children on Shetland ponies, pacing up and down. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND 


69 



ROTTON ROW, HYDE PARK, LONDON. 




70 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 

The Row is bordered on each side by a walk and 
this is thronged by people who come to watch the 
riders. Under the trees are chairs which one may rent 
for a penny apiece. We are glad to rest awhile in 
the shade, and watch the crowd of riders and walkers. 
Between the hours of four and six the crowd drifts to 
another part of the park, where the fashionable people 
come later to drive. The wide, shady avenues are 
then filled with luxuriously appointed automobiles. 
The ladies in these automobiles are elegantly dressed 
and many beautiful faces are seen among them. 

Kensington Gardens are separated from the Park 
by the Serpentine Lake. It is a lovely place, far more 
beautiful than the park, and not so noisy and crowded. 
On the western side is Kensington palace, the place 
where Queen Victoria was born, and lived until a young 
woman. 

South of the palace we find Albert Memorial, erected 
in memory of the Queen’s husband, Prince Albert. This 
is one of the finest monuments that has ever been 
erected, and it ought to be, for it cost $600,000. Near 
it is Albert Hall, which is also a memorial to Prince 
Albert. This great amphitheater seats nearly 10,000, 
and contains one of the largest organs in the world. 

Not far away is the Kensington museum, where one 
might remain for hours. There are many fine paint¬ 
ings, and among those we note are several by Land¬ 
seer, whose tomb we saw in St. Paul’s Cathedral. 
Would you like to know something of this London 
boy, who loved animals and painted dogs as no other 
artist has done? 

Edwin Landseer drew pictures as soon as he was able 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 71 

to walk, and at five years of age could sketch a dog as 
well as most grown-up people. He liked better than 
anything else to watch the dogs at play with the chil¬ 
dren. One morning when strolling about he saw a 



LANDSEER AND HIS DOGS. 


beautiful St. Bernard dog. He wished to sketch the 
splendid fellow, so he followed him home. The sketch 



72 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 

made of this dog is said to be the finest representa¬ 
tion of a dog ever made. 

His father often took him to the Zoological Gardens 
to see the animals, and while there he drew horses, 
donkeys, sheep, lions and tigers. He drew pictures of 
pointers, mastiffs, spaniels and bull-dogs, and gave to 
each the right expression. He found by studying, 
working and playing with them that dogs of one 
breed may be very different in temper and dis¬ 
position. Poor people who owned dogs or other pets 
that they prized very highly were interested in these 
animal pictures. They could not afford to buy a 
painting but they could spare a few shillings for an 
engraving. So Edwin Landseer’s father began to en¬ 
grave the pictures of his son’s dogs. So many people 
bought them that Edwin’s father and brothers soon 
devoted all their time to making these engravings. 

By and by rich people came and wanted Edwin to 
paint portraits of their dogs, so he opened a studio, 
where the principal sitters were dogs. He loved horses 
as well as dogs but had not had so good an opportu¬ 
nity to study them. He now began to paint them 
too. Rich people liked to have their portraits with a 
favorite dog or horse. Queen Victoria herself came to 
his studio to have him paint her picture on horseback, 
and a portrait of her husband, Prince Albert, as well. 

He was the first artist to be received by the Queen 
as a friend, and was invited to her palace many times. 

WINDSOR CASTLE. 

There is one excursion that few London visitors 
fail to make—that is to Windsor, the chosen resi- 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 73 

•dence of English kings for many centuries. It was 
the royal home of Queen Victoria for three score years, 
and is now the residence of King George V. Windsor 
Castle is situated in the little town of Windsor, about 
twenty-one miles from London. 

The train will take us to Windsor station in less 
than a half hour. The Castle is the most interesting 
and imposing of all the great houses that overlook the 
Thames. It is not a beautiful building, but its fine 
situation, its huge, picturesque, ivy-covered walls and 
towers make it a magnificent one. 

The Castle is more than eight centuries old, and has 
always belonged to the crown, but there have been 
times when it was not used as a royal residence. It was 
begun by King William, and at that time was intended 
as a fortress. But each succeeding sovereign has 
added to it until it has become the most important 
royal state palace of England. Queen Victoria lived 
here during the winter and at times while Parliament 
was in session, but the autumn and summer were 
spent elsewhere. 

The grounds around the castle make a beautiful 
park of over 1,800 acres. Everything that can be 
done by human hands to make a perfect landscape has 
been done by the gardeners of Windsor. There are 
forests and avenues of grand old trees, some of them 
known to be over 1,000 years old. There are an arti¬ 
ficial lake, statues and lodges half hidden with foliage 
and covered with ivy. 

The Castle consists principally of two courts—the 
lower or western court and upper or eastern court. 
Each of these is surrounded by buildings, with the Great 


74 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND, 



WINDSOR CASTLE, SOUTH FRONT. 




A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


75 


Round Tower between them. This tower is built on 
a high eminence and rises 80 feet from the ground. It 
is the oldest part of the Palace. From the top of the 
tower we have a beautiful view of the country around 
about Windsor. Before us lies the valley of the Thames. 
In and out winds the river like a silver thread. On 
its calm waters boats are idly drifting or darting back 
and forth. Across the river rise the gray walls and 
towers of Eton. 

In the East End are the State Apartments, the 
Audience Chamber, the Presence Chamber, the Guard 
Chamber, the Grand Reception room, the Throne 
room and Picture rooms. The royal Audience 
Chamber is hung with French tapestry whereof artists 
with skillful fingers have told the Bible story of Esther 
and Mordecai. In the Guard Chamber are suits of old 
armor, and busts of English heroes. The Rubens room 
is filled with pictures by that artist, and the Van Dyck 
room contains portraits by that master. 

The Albert Chapel is a memorial by the Queen 
Victoria to her husband, Albert. This is one of the most 
beautiful rooms in the world. Its ceilings are of 
mosaics and its floor and walls of richly colored mar¬ 
bles and precious stones. At one end of the room is 
a marble figure of the Prince. The walls are decorated 
with scenes from the lives of Joseph, Daniel and the 
Saviour. The windows are decorated with scenes from 
the life of the Prince. Beneath this chapel lie the 
bodies of two of England’s kings. The remains of 
Prince Albert lie in a mausoleum in the park. 

From Albert Chapel we are taken to St. George’s 
Chapel, where many English kings are buried. This 


76 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 



THRONE ROOM, WINDSOR CASTLE. 

was built as a meeting place for the Knights of the 
Garter, and here each knight still has his stall and 
hangs his banner. It was in this chapel that the mar¬ 
riage of the King Edward took place. Jennie Lind 
sang one of the songs at the ceremony. A poem has 
been written about it by Tennyson, and a grand 
picture of the ceremony painted by a celebrated artist. 

King Edward, the seventh king of that name, came 
to the throne of the British Empire in 1901 and at the 
time of his death in 1910 was ruling over a total pop¬ 
ulation of almost 380,000,000. The oldest son of 










A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


77 



Queen Victoria, he had been known as the Prince of 
Wales during her lifetime. His wife, the beautiful 
Queen Alexandra, was almost as much loved by the 
people as England’s former Queen. 


KING EDWARD VII. 

Edward had five brothers and sisters,—the Duke 
of Connaught, the Duke of Edinburgh, the Princess 
Christian, the Marchioness of Lome, and the Princess 



78 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 

Beatrice. The number of Queen Victoria’s descend¬ 
ants now runs well into the hundreds. Among them 
have been princes, princesses, a former empress, and 
many of the lesser nobility. 

King George V. has ruled Great Britain since the 
death of his father, King Edward VII. He and 
Queen Mary are beloved by their own people and are 
very popular even in foreign countries. Their son 
Edward is now Prince of Wales. He is a fine young 
fellow with every evidence of ability to take his father’s 
place when the time comes. 

As King George was the second son of former Kin g 
Edward and Queen Alexandra, he was not born the 
heir to the throne. So he devoted his attention to the 
British navy, applying himself so diligently to naval 
tactics that in his young manhood he was known as the 
“Sailor Prince.” He served on several men-of-war 
and was successively made sub-lieutenant, lieutenant, 
captain, rear-admiral, and vice-admiral. 

In 1892, he became heir to the throne by the death 
of his brother, Albert Edward, Duke of Clarence. But 
as his father was still Prince of Wales, he was created 
Duke of York, Earl of Inverness, and Baron Killarney. 
In 1901 when his father came to the throne, he be¬ 
came Prince of Wales—a title which he exchanged for 
that of king, at the death of Edward VII. in 1910. 
Six children were born to King George and Queen 
Mary—five sons and one daughter. 

EDUCATION. 

We are interested of course in knowing how the 
children of English royalty and of the English nobility 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


79 


are being edu¬ 
cated, but we 
wish also to 
know something 
of the education 
of other London 
children. Some 
of them we 
have seen have 
received the 
greater part of 
their education 
in the streets 
while selling 
flowers and 



newspapers, 
blacking boots, 
running errands 
and sweeping London flower boy. 

crossings. 

But what about the others who have parents and 
friends to care for them? We find that all children 
between the ages of five and thirteen must attend 
some kind of a school. The churches support more 
than one-half the schools and the government the 
rest. This is very different from our own system, 
where the government supports nine tenths of the 
schools. 

The pupils in the government or public schools do 
not come from all sorts of families as in the states. 
Families that can afford to pay for their children s 
education send them to private schools. The public 








80 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 


free schools, as they are called, are looked upon as 
charity schools. The children who attend them come 
trom the families of poor laboring men. 

The girls as well as the boys who attend these free 
schools must earn their own living as servants, or in 
the factories, when their school days are over. They 
must learn how to live comfortably on small incomes 
at home. 

For this reason house-keeping classes were intro¬ 
duced into the public schools. In these the girls are 
taught how to cook, wash, iron, clean house, take care 
of sick people and babies, do marketing and keep 
accounts. At the time these housekeeping classes 
were established, it was necessary to build additions 
to all the schoolhouses in the city in order to secure 
,space for the work. 

There are a number of noted endowment schools 
which prepare boys for college. Four of these are at 
Eton, Rugby, Harrow and Winchester. These are 
boarding schools with from four hundred to one thou¬ 
sand pupils. A high degree of scholarship is required 
at Winchester, and to this school are sent the children 
of clergymen, professional men and the upper classes. 
Many wealthy people send their children to Eton, 
where the pupils are not required to study so hard. 
But many noted men have received part of their edu¬ 
cation there. 

In these schools much attention is"paid to develop¬ 
ing character and to the physical growth. Fights are 
a common occurrence in schools, but there is rarely 
any ill-feeling over them. The boys fight to deter¬ 
mine which is the stronger physically. The favor- 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 81 

ite game is cricket, which gives them plenty of exer¬ 
cise. The object of their games seems to be a good 
time, rather than the winning. 

Before leaving England, we shall visit two of its 
great universities, Oxford and Cambridge. 

THE LONDON SEASON. 

The pleasantest time to be in London is the season 
between Easter and the middle of August. When 
Parliament closes the season is over, and the fashion¬ 
able people of London leave the city and go to their 
country homes,to the seaside.the island resorts or travel 
on the continent. 

You have seen how some of the society people 
aipuse themselves. They ride or walk in the morning; 
drive in the afternoon; spend their evenings at the 
club or at dinners, parties, balls, concerts and the 
theatre. 

Then there are special events which attract all 
classes of Londoners. These are the cricket matches 
between Eton and Harrow, the Derby race and the 
boat races or Royal Regatta. The boat races are held 
near the town of Henley on the Thames. You remem¬ 
ber that our ride on the Thames took us near this 
place. 

The cricket matches take place at Eton, beside 
the Thames. Eton is across the river from Windsor, 
and is one of the oldest public schools of England. 
Many of the boys who attend school there are sons of 
noblemen and wealthy Englishmen and so it is the 
fashion for not only their families, but for great 
crowds, to attend the cricket matches between this 


82 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND. 

school and its rivals. The majority of those attending 
are not much interested in either side. The carriage 
drive and the day in the country are pleasant; how¬ 
ever, and it gives them an outing. 

The greatest event of the year is the Derby race. 
Members of the royal family usually attend this, and 
many of London’s great men and women. Numbers 
who do not care for the races go merely to see Eng¬ 
land’s lords and ladies, and other important spectators, 
who appear in places reserved for them. 

All of the fashionable ladies have costumes especially 
prepared for this occasion, and the stands and car¬ 
riages that border the race course present very gay 
pictures. The finest and most beautiful horses in 
England are to be seen at these races. The race 
horses are the fleetest the world can afford. The 
leaders are known far and wide, for they have been 
made known to the people through their pictures and 
newspaper descriptions. 

But these races mean much more than amusement 
to some of those who attend, for they are made the 
occasion of betting. Many men stake their last 
dollar upon the horse they feel confident will win, and 
while some win others lose all they have. 

Now, let us say good-bye to London with its fog 
and smoke, and go out into the' beautiful country 
around about the city. There are many pleasant ex¬ 
cursions to be made into the suburbs. Then, too, we 
must see something of English country life and of 
the people and places in other parts of England. 
This will take us another month, and these trips will 
make the next of our little journeys. 


INDEX 

PART II 

ENGLAND AND WALES 


Army, The.... 42 

Birmingham . 50 

Black Country, The. 50 

Brighton . 4 

Canterbury . 57 

Cardiff . 86 

Castle, The. 18 

Chester . 64 

Children, English. 37 

Conway Castle. 70 

County Map of England and 
Wales . 5 

England, Today. 41 

English Children. 37 

English Homes. 13 

Fairs, Welsh.81 

Farmer, The. 23 

Garden of England, The. 51 

Holidays . 40 

Homes, English. 13 

Isle of Wight, The. 6 


Laborer, The. 30 

London, Around About. 3 

Manchester . 48 

Manufacturing Towns. 47 

Musical Festivals, Welsh.84 

Navy, The. 42 

Northern England. 43 

Oxford University.. .. 55 

People, The English.. /... 35 

Population .41 

Religion of Wales.87 

Snowdon . 66 

Southern England. 59 

Stratford . 53 

Tennyson, Alfred. 8 

Village Inn, The. 29 

Wales . 63 

Warwickshire, The County of. 51 

Welsh Home, A. 77 

Welsh Marriages. 80 

Wight, The Isle of. 6 

York Cathedral. 46 














































AROUND ABOUT LONDON. 

We have seen many of the wonders of London, its 
busy, crowded streets and something of the work that 
is being carried on in both London and Liverpool. 
But we have seen little of the home life of the English 
people. For this we will go to the country. 

When the London season is over, everyone who can 
afford to do so leaves town. Some go to their country 
homes, others to Brighton, or the Isle of Wight, or to 
some seaside or country resort, for a rest or change. 
Let us go, too. 

There is so much yet to be seen that we are tempted 
to linger awhile longer in this fascinating old London 
Town. There are so many excursions we might make 
into the suburbs, if time would but permit. There is 
the great Crystal Palace, where everyone goes who 
wishes to study the products and industries of the 
world. It is a huge building of glass and iron stand¬ 
ing in the midst of forests and parks. 

Then there are Richmond and Hampton Courts, Kew 
Gardens, Epping Forest and Fligh Beech. Tourists are 
sure to visit these places. It is said that a quarter of 
million persons visit Hampton Court every ye t ar. The 
palace at this place is the largest royal paiace in Great 



4 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

Britain, containing 1,000 rooms. Many years ago it 
was used as a royal residence, but most of it is now 
occupied by royal pensioners of the Crown. The peo¬ 
ple who go there are attracted by the fine picture 
galleries and the beautiful grounds. 

Greenwich is a pleasant place, too, a little over four 
miles from London Bridge. Greenwich Park is a 
favorite resort of Londoners on Sundays and holidays. 
In the center of this park is the famous Greenwich 
Royal Observatory. It is at this place that the cor¬ 
rect time for the whole of England is settled every 
day. From this place it is telegraphed to other im¬ 
portant towns and cities. 

BRIGHTON. 

If we look on the map we shall find, as we do, 
that Brighton's on the sea and directly south of Lon¬ 
don. It is the most popular of all the seaside resorts 
in the British Isles. Thousands of visitors and tourists 
go there every year. It is not a pretty place, but the 
air is clear and bracing, and the bathing fine. 

The most attractive place in the town is the beach. 
Crowds are walking up and down in the sun listening 
to the music or bathing in the cool sea. Children with 
bare legs are wading in the water or playing in the 
sand. There are numberless people driving about in 
carriages, and houses stretching along the shore. 
Everyone seems bent upon amusement. A man 
comes to us and asks us to buy some shells; another, 
fruit; and the third, papers. A gipsy wants us to 
have our fortune told, and a sailor begs us to let him 
take us out for a sail in his boat. There is a Punch 



Peebles 


O Hexham_' 

i. Jurluvm 


N.AUertrrn 


icarboromjh 


Boltoi^ : 

Mancli) 
averpool ° 


leffield 


CUT* SI^] 

? Chester MaccitaC 
SNaiitolch 

f. P 'ou>1 


Lfwi 

;I>Lelceat vsf 
~o ® I 


f^fWoIverl 


Ypawich 


ORD' 


Jhamrs 

leijserhess 


.ochestei 


Rath. 


Aldersl .01 

V" o 


'C outer 


'MalcLstoue 


.eacby Hi 


Somrnt R 


,be rib? 


la IIoRue 


COUNTY MAP 

or; 

ENGLAND# WALES. 

% 

to » » « »> 


Tivttd 


Seale ol Miles, 


S H 


Cardiphn 

Ba y 


Brt s 


LxmdjrZ, 


A liicmej 


fS^ri- 













































































6 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

and Judy show, too; but all these things we have had 
elsewhere and so we decide to visit the Aquarium. 

This is a place where all kinds of curious fish are 
kept. What a huge tank! These certainly can not 
be fishes—they look like plants. But they are fishes—* 
anemones, that live on the rocks in the sea and make 
the bottom of the ocean look like a beautiful flower- 
garden. And there are dolphins, too; and porpoises 
and seals and sea-lions and mackerel and herrings and 
shrimps—and ever so many more, whose names we do 
not know. 

THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 

“Of all the southern isles, she holds the highest place, 

And evermore hath been the great’st in Britain’s grace.’’ 

The Isle of Wight is the one spot in England where 
“skies are blue and bright” always, and “harsh winds 
never come.” Its air is soft and pleasant, and thous¬ 
ands of English people go there every year for rest 
and health and recreation. 

To reach this little paradise we must take a 
steamer, but the channel that divides the island from 
the main-land is less than half a dozen miles. 

It was in Norris Castle on this island that Queen 
Victoria passed many of her happy childhood days, 
and later she selected this isle as her winter home. 
In 1840 she purchased an old manor house called 
“Osborne House” and made it her home for several 
months each year, for sixty years. It was in this 
house she passed her last days. 

Osborne House is in the midst of a lovely park, 
sloping down to the beach, and well worth a visit, but 
the Castle of Carisbrooke is a more interesting build- 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 7 



ing. To reach it we go through the heart of the island. 
On either side of the road are blossoming fields 
with green hedges. Here and there are farm houses, 
or tiny ivy-covered cottages with thatched roofs, and 
gardens gorgeous with flowers. 


OSBORNE HOUSE, ISLE OF WIGHT. 

Carisbrooke is one of the most famous old castles in 
England. It stands on a hill overlooking the town 
of Carisbrooke, where it has stood for twenty centur¬ 
ies. If its walls could speak, what wonderful stories 
they might tell! 

Kings have lived within these walls. They are so 
strongly built that it is thought to have been a Brit- 






8 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

ish camp long ago. It has been used as a fort, too. 
The outer wall was added to it for this purpose. 
The castle is surrounded by a moat and over this the 
draw-bridge hung. The moat was kept full of water 
in olden times, and watchmen in the towers were 
constantly on the lookout for enemies. When the 
enemy appeared, the bridge was drawn up and there 
was no way to reach the gate, except to swim across. 

The part of this castle that stands higher than the 
others is called a keep. In the center of the keep is a 
well three hundred feet deep. In the court-yard is an¬ 
other, two hundred feet deep. The water from this 
well is drawn up by means of a wheel and a donkey. 
The people in this castle did not mean to suffer from 
water famine, you see, in case they were besieged by 
their enemies. But the castle is in ruins n6w and its 
enemies gone, ages ago. 

Near the'village is the old Whifhngham church, but 
we only stop for a glimpse, for we want to reach Far- 
ingford—which was the poet Tennyson's home for 
years. The house is not beautiful; but it is in a quiet,; 
peaceful spot, “far from the noise and smoke of town." 
This was the home where most of his poems were 
written. But crowds of visitors sought out Tennyson, 
in this home hidden away in the pine woods, and left 
him so little time that he was at last obliged to go 
away from this place, to get time for his work. 

ALFRED TENNYSON. 

Why should people wish to see and talk to this man? 
Because he was one of England's greatest poets. Al¬ 
fred Tennyson was born in the little town of Somersby, 



A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 9 



WHIFFINGHAM CHURCH, CARISBROOKE, ISLE OF WIGHT, 












10 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 



in a beautiful valley in the northern part of England. 
When he and his brother Charles were children to¬ 
gether they were fond of acting out old-time stories of 
England. True stories they were, too, and as wonder¬ 
ful and fascinating to the English boys today as to the 
little Tennyson boys many years ago. For they were 
of brave knights defending a castle, or their king; or 


rescuing some person in distress. They made castles 
of stones and dug moats or little ditches about them. 
They carried water and filled the moat. Then one 
boy would'don a kind of armor, and with his spear 
make a fierce attack upon the castle while the other 
defended it. 

And when Alfred grew up he wrote beautiful poems 
about the brave deeds of these old English knights 
and their kings, for he had read them and thought them 
all out so many times that he knew them by heart. 


TENNYSON’S BIRTHPLACE. 






ALFRED TENNYSON. 

salt marsh, the shells and stones, and after a time he 
put into verse the thoughts that came to him about 
these things. Among these verses are'The Brook," 
“The Seashell,” and "Break, Break, Break” His 
later poems are full of pictures of English scenes and 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 11 


Alfred’s home was not far from the sea, and in the 
summer the family went to a little town on the sea¬ 
shore called Marblethorpe. It was while there that 
Alfred began to write his poems. He explored the 
coast carefully and studied the dunes and dykes, the 






12 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

homes, and no modern poet has equaled him as a 
word-painter. His poems are full of high and noble 
ideals and are as true as they are beautiful. 

As a man he was rich, honored, and sought after by 
people all over England; but he liked best to remain 
quietly with his family, and his pen was never idle. 
Mr. Tennyson had three homes in different parts of 
England, and beautiful homes they were. But the one 
in the South of England he loved the best of all, for 
its windows looked out on his much-beloved sea. 

Charles Dickens was one of his friends and was very 
fond of reading his poems; and so was the Queen, for 
she made Tennyson Poet Laureate. This is considered 
a great honor. A Poet Laureate is a court poet for 
great occasions. The office is kept for life. 

When he died he was buried in the Poet’s Corner in 
Westminster Abbey. One thing Tennyson has said 
which should never be forgotten:— 

“Howe’er it be, it seems to me 
’Tis only noble to be good; 

Kind hearts are more than coronets 
And simple faith than Norman blood.” 

ENGLISH HOnES. 

“The stately homes of England 
How beautiful they stand! 

Amidst their tall ancestral trees 
O’er all the pleasant land. 

The deer across their greensward bound, 

Through shade and sunny gleam, 

And the swan glides past them with the sound 
Of some rejoicing stream. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 13 

The cottage homes of England! 

By thousands on her plains, 

They are smiling o’er the silvery brooks 
And round the hamlet fanes; 

Through the glowing orchards forth they peep 
Each from its nook of leaves, 

And fearless there the lowly sleep 
As the bird beneath the eaves. 

Felicia Hemans- 

Let us return to the mainland and visit some of the 
fair country homes of England. English people love 
the country and, where they are wealthy or can afford 
to, live there the greater part of the year. The home 
of the well-to-do Englishman is usually from six to 
twenty miles from town. It is built on a terrace or 
set in the midst of well-kept lawns and parks. 

But we want also to see England’s ruined castles, its 
stately ancestral halls, its beautiful old manor houses, 
and the cottages of the peasants, far removed from 
the city. To do this we must drive through the coun¬ 
try, and for a long coaching trip we find the drag the 
most comfortable and convenient conveyance. It is a 
long, high-wheeled carriage, something like our Tally- 
ho coach. From its top one can see much more than 
from an ordinary carriage. 

Nothing could be more lovely than the country 
in England. We do not wonder that the people pre¬ 
fer to live here. 

The road is bordered by rows of stately trees; the 
roadsides are as neat as a lawn. The vine-covered, 
thatched cottages are set back in gardens gay with 
old-fashioned posies. The walks and hedges are 
trim, the fields without weeds, the barns, sheds and 


14 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

granaries well built, and every home is carefully fenced 
or walled about. 

As we drive gaily along the smooth, fine country 



A COTTAGE HOME. 


road, one beautiful picture after another passes before 
our eyes, 

“The green lanes, the thatched cottages, the mead- 





A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 15 


ows brightened with wild flowers,the little churches cov¬ 
ered with dark-green ivy, the gables festooned with 
roses, the foot-paths that wind across wild heaths 
and lonesome fields, the narrow, shining rivers brimful 
to their banks and crossed here and there with gray 
and moss-grown bridges, the stately elms with low- 
hanging branches drooping over a turf of emerald vel¬ 
vet, the sheep and deer that rest in shady places, the 
pretty children who cluster round the porches of their 
cleanly, cozy homes and peep at the wayfarer—these 
are some of the everyday joys of rural England.” 

In every part of the country one sees flocks of 
sheep—on the moors and hills, in the valleys, and al¬ 
ways on the farms. The farmers often confine them 
in hurdles, a basket-work fencing woven from split 
hazel. These fences are light and easily moved; and 
as soon as the sheep have eaten the grass from one 
field, the fences and sheep are moved to another. 

The country is cut up into a sort of checker-board 
by hedges- solid banks of green. The fields are of 
every size and shape, and each field has its particular 
name. Every farm has its name, too—a name it has 
borne for hundreds of years perhaps. These fields 
and farms and estates remain in the possession of the 
same family for generations, being handed down from 
the father to the oldest son. 

It is a very difficult matter to buy a farm or estate 
on this account. The Englishman is very unwilling 
to part with his ancestral home. The honor of the 
family demands that it be kept and passed to the next 
who bears the name and takes the place of the head of 
the family. 



16 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

Much of the land outside of the city belongs to the 
estates of the nobility. Do you know what is meant 
by this term? It means members of the royal family 
or persons who have inherited titles from their ances¬ 
tors, or had titles given them by their sovereign. 


A COUNTRY LANE. 

Sometimes titles and lands are conferred upon people 
for some service rendered the country or its sovereign. 
In this way much of the land in England has come in¬ 
to the possession of its princes, dukes, lords, barons, 
and wealthy squires. 




A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 17 

These estates contain hundreds, even thousands, of 
acres, and to them we must go if we wish to see the 
old castles, halls and manor houses that are England’s 
pride. 

Many of these homes are in ruins, but their owners 
will not have them rebuilt or changed in any way. 
They reverence and value them because of their his¬ 
tories, and because they have been their family 
homes for generations. 

Often, when it is impossible to live in these places, 
the owners keep the grounds in good condition and 
throw them open to the public. For the events and 
people connected with these old places have come to 
be a part of the history of England, and they are of in¬ 
terest to the whole world as well as to the owner. 

We pass shepherds with dogs at their heels, watch¬ 
ing their flocks in the meadows; farm laborers carrying 
their hoes or hooks for hedge trimming, and work¬ 
men with baskets of tools. They are going to their 
day’s work. There are carters, too, in white blouses, 
walking beside tandem teams; and farmers, or garden¬ 
ers going to market. 

A splendid carriage dashes by, with a distinguished 
looking old gentleman seated within. He is some coun¬ 
try squire, perhaps, returning from the city. 

It may be that the land lying along this very road¬ 
side is a part of his estate. A sudden turn in the road 
takes him from our view, but a minute more brings us 
also to the bend and to our eyes the very thing we 
have been wishing to see—one of England s “ancestral 
halls,”—a stately and grand old castle. 


18 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

THE CASTLE. 

A castle is the name of the principal residence of a 
nobleman, when it is also a fortress. In olden times 
they were compelled to build such strongholds to pro¬ 
tect themselves from their enemies. There was little 
law but might. 

England for many centuries was the scene of con¬ 
stant warfare. The people were often obliged to de¬ 
fend themselves from the attacks of different nations 
that wished to conquer them. 

In their castles the chiefs of clans would gather 
their own people, their family, soldiers, servants and 
all who looked to them as their head. The castles 
were usually built upon islands or high places, that 
could be easily defended. They had thick walls of 
stone and were surrounded by deep, broad ditches, or 
moats, filled with water. Underneath the castles 
were dungeons for prisoners. 

In the center of the castle Was a great hall, where 
the owner could entertain a large company of his 
friends. At the end of this hall was a place raised 
higher than the rest of the floor, called the dais, where 
the chief stood. Near him, at meals, were seated per¬ 
sons of the highest rank, while lower down were those 
of less importance. 

Will this castle be like those others of which we 
have read so often? Perhaps this place has not been 
the scene of any fierce battles. It is at the top of a 
hill, but there is no deep moat about it. 

The castle before us has many towers and turrets,and 
its gray stone walls are half covered with the beautiful 
ivy which one sees everywhere in England, and of which 


^77 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 19 



THE CASTLE, 










20 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

Dickens wrote. The building must cover almost half 
an acre, arid is big enough for a dozen families, and 
large ones at that. If we might spend just one day 
there ! Perhaps we might be allowed to drive through 
the grounds. 

The castle and grounds are surrounded by a high 
stone wall, green in places with moss and ivy. There 
is a great stone gate way, with massive iron gates. Just 
inside is the lodge-house, also of stone and covered 
with climbing roses and ivy. The gate-keeper comes 
out and admits his master's carriage. Through the 
gates we see a broad, graveled driveway and a lawn as 
smooth as velvet. Sturdy oaks and sweeping elms 
lend their shade to the park about the house. Some 
of these magnificent trees are more than four hundred 
years old. 

The old gate , keeper answers our questions politely 
and grants our request. His master is very kind to 
visitors, he tells us, and often allows them to drive 
through his grounds. Sometimes he is allowed to take 
visitors through the castle, too, but that is when his 
master and the family are away. Part of the sea¬ 
son the owner must spend in London, for he is a mem¬ 
ber of the House of Lords. But he is at home now 
and the house is full of guests. There are forty of 
these, and others expected, for a hunting party. 

Part of the castle is too old to be used. Its walls 
are crumbling to pieces. When the family is gone, 
most of the rooms now open are closed, and only the 
servants' quarters used. Yes, it is a pleasant place to 
stay. No place in the world is so dear to the gate¬ 
keeper. He was born there the same year as his Lordship. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 21 

They played together as boys, for his father had been 
the gardener on the place, and his grandfather as well. 

His Lordship was fond of him and kind to his chil¬ 
dren. He had sent them to school and paid for their 
education. When the gate keeper is too old to work he 
will be provided for. His father had been remembered 
in the former master’s will, and this one, he was sure, 
would not forget him. He had tried to be faithful. 
Many of the other servants had been at the castle all 
their lives, and so had their fathers and mothers before 
them. They were as fond and proud of the place as 
if it were their own,—and no wonder! 

The lawns are dotted with flowerbeds of many 
shapes, and on the grounds are a great flower garden, 
a market garden, conservatories, graperies, and orch¬ 
ards. There are stables full of fine horses, and ken¬ 
nels for the hunting dogs. Many acres of the estate 
near the house have been reserved for parks—deer 
and hunting parks. 

These parks or game preserves are cared for and 
guarded by gamekeepers. No one but the master 
and his friends is ever allowed to hunt or shoot 
there. If a hunter from the city, or one of the coun¬ 
try men should venture to shoot even a partridge, he 
would be arrested by the gamekeepers and impris¬ 
oned by the squire. 

It must seem very hard for the poor people living 
near to be obliged to suffer hunger at times, with 
these great parks full of deer and rabbit, grouse, and 
birds of all kinds, before their very eyes. It seems a 
pity, too, for so much land to be lying idle when so 
many poor people in the neighborhood have not even 


22 A. LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

a garden patch. These poor laboring people think so, 
also. They think the land should be put to a better 
use than to provide amusement for a few weeks each 
year for one rich man. 

But the noble lord who owns all these acres cares 
very little what they think. The land is his, and he 
means to do what he pleases with it. His hunting 
grounds are his particular pride, and hunting and 
shooting his favorite pastime. He entertains a great 
many of his friends during the hunting season, and 
this is the gayest time of the year for the people at 
the great house. 

There are big dinners and balls, and garden and 
hunting parties for the “gentry,” and entertain¬ 
ments for the servants. 

One of the most exciting events of the year in the 
country is the fox hunt. This is attended by gentle¬ 
men and ladies from many parts of the country. They 
meet at some central place near the castle, accom¬ 
panied by their hounds. The holes of the foxes have 
all been closed; and so there is no place for a fox to go 
and nothing else to do, when released or raised, but to 
run for his life. 

The men and hounds follow quickly after, jumping 
ditches, walls, gates, hedges, and turning aside for 
nothing in the way. It is reckless sport, for many of 
the riders are thrown and killed every year in the 
wild effort to reach the fox first. It seems rather 
cruel sport, also, for the harmless fox has no way of 
defending himself from his enemies. 

But there is a part of this estate we have not seen 
—the farm lands. We take leave of the kind old gate- 



A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 23 

keeper, and follow the road which will lead to the 
home of a farmer who lives near, and also to a village 
a little farther on. • 

THE FARMER. 

The great estates and farms of Great Britain are 
not tilled by the owners. They rent the land to 
farmers, who employ laborers to do the work. The 
farmer is the most important tenant of the nobleman, 


OLD ENGLISH FARM HOUSE. 

or the wealthy country squire. But this farmer does 
not lead the life of the farmer in America. He never 
thinks of milking or going out into the fields to plow 
or reap his harvest. 

All this is left to his laborers. He gives orders 
to his workmen, and acts as a manager only. The 







24 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

chief farmer of this big estate is a fine-looking man- 
tall, broad-chested and pleasant-faced. He always 
wears his leathern riding-gaiters, for he is in the saddle 
much of the time, riding back and forth between the 
farms or to town. 

His home is a very comfortable one. He takes time 
to read the morning papers before breakfast, and after 
breakfast has morning prayers, for he is a devout 
churchman. The servants are called in for prayers, 
but the children are not there. They are away at 
boarding-school near town, and only come home for 
the holidays. 

The homes of the English are very attractive from 
the outside, and the yards and gardens and lawns are 
beautifully kept; but the houses are not so cheerful 
and sunny as ours, nor so comfortable. The windows 
have small panes of glass, and are set in such thick 
stone walls that little sunshine comes through. They 
lack the conveniences, too, to which one is accustomed 
in the United States. 

Come into this house with me. The hall looks bare 
and rather dark, but the drawing rooms are lighter 
and very pleasant. The room is crowded with chairs, 
lounges, tables, cabinets and other pieces of furniture, 
leaving little room for one to walk about. There is 
not a rocking chair in the room, and the furniture is 
dark and rather stiff. But there are flowers, ferns and 
palms all about, and these brighten the room and 
make it look home-like. 

The dining-room also we find furnished with dark, 
heavy furniture, and this room too is dark. House¬ 
keeping in England is very different from house-keep- 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 25 

ing in America. Come into the kitchen and see for 
yourself. What a dingy place! The windows are very 
small and the walls are blackened with smoke. In¬ 
stead of a smooth wooden floor, painted or oiled, there 
is one of blocks of stone, with cracks between the 
stones. 

There is no stove; but, instead, a “Kitchner.” This 
is an iron arrangement built into a brick fire-place. 
It extends into the room but a few inches. In the 
middle of the kitchner is a small, open grate in 
which a fire of soft coal is burning. On one side of 
the grate is a small iron tank to hold hot water, 
and on the other, an oven. Sometimes there is no 
tank for hot water, and then the water must be heated 
in the teakettle on the grate. The oven holds a joint 
of meat. When a fowl or joint of meat is to be 
roasted, it is hung by a chain before the fire and 
turned and basted until it is cooked through. Some¬ 
times, usually on Sunday, the meat is sent to the pub¬ 
lic bakery and brought home at noon. Sometimes 
the cake and tarts are also sent there to be baked. 
The pots containing the vegetables are hung over the 
fire on cranes. 

The ovens are very small to bake bread. So the mis¬ 
tress usually buys her bread of the baker. Very good 
bread it is, too, and cheap. Every day the baker’s 
wagon comes to the door and leaves a number of 
loaves. This furnishes the reason for the great num¬ 
ber of baker shops one sees in the cities and towns. 
In many of these shops nothing is sold but bread and 
flour; in others, cake and biscuit may also be bought. 

Coal is commonly used in the open fires in the kitch- 


26 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

ners, and everything in the room is soon covered with 
soot unless it is cleaned very often. 

The mistress of this home does not try to do as 
many things as the mistress of a similar home in 
America. She keeps more servants, because servants 
are not paid as high wages in England. There is 
less work in English homes, too. The bread and cake 
are made by the baker, and the laundry work and 
dressmaking done outside the home. 

Each servant has his or her particular work and is 
rarely called upon to do extra work without extra pay. 

The kitchen is presided overby a rosy-cheeked maid, 
with a snowy cap. She is preparing the dinner and 
tells us that this is not a difficult task in England. 
English people are not so fond of soups, salads, hot 
breads and desserts as we. They like good roast beef, 
mutton, and vegetables, and their dinners are simple 
affairs. For breakfast they like tea, toast, eggs, bacon 
and marmalade. 

When we tell this little maid that it appears to us 
the English people are always eating, she says, “No; 
the English do not eat more than the people of 
America; but they eat oftener.” 

She says that six meals a day are served in this 
house, and in many others, and that four are taken by 
rich and poor alike. A cup of tea is served in bed; 
then come breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, and 
late supper before bed time. 

All English people are fond of tea, and every after' 
noon, between four and five o’clock, tea is served to 
the family and friends, or neighbors who happen in for 
a chat. If one drops in at a, cafe or tea-room at this 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 27 

hour in the afternoon, it is almost impossible to find a 
seat. Sometimes one is obliged to visit three or four 
places before room can be found at a table. 

The rooms are crowded with shoppers, tourists, 
business men and their employees—all drinking tea. 
How odd it would seem to us if the men at home left 
their places of business in the afternoon to drink tea! 
But we wish that some of the English people would 
come to the States and teach the people in our res¬ 
taurants and lunch rooms how to make dainty bread- 
and-butter sandwiches, and pound cake. 

THE COUNTRY VILLAGE. 

On one corner of the estate, and not far from the 
castle, is a village. At one time it consisted of the 
laborers and servants on the place, but others have 
come to make their homes there, and the village now 
numbers a thousand souls. They are almost all ten¬ 
ants of the lord at the castle. 

The village has one long street, with a few two- 
story houses of brick and stone; but most of the build¬ 
ings are cottages with roofs of red brick, tile or straw 
thatch. In the large houses live the steward of the 
estate, the doctor, and the shopkeepers. There are a 
market place, also a town hall and a church; and 
last, but not least, an inn. 

Sometimes the cottages are crowded closely to¬ 
gether, and are built directly on the street without 
even room for a path. Sometimes there is a flower 
garden in front, separated from the street by a stone 
wall or hedge. There are flowers in the windows and 
vines trained over the doors and walls. 


28 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

These cottages are pictures of neatness. The yards 
are kept clean from litter, and wherever there is room, 
trees, bushes, plants and flowers are growing. One 
thing about this village we notice is that many of the 
cottages display something for sale. Numbers of the 
men in the village are mechanics or farm laborers, and 
their incomes are small. The wife and children help by 
keeping a few articles of various kinds for sale. The 



A COUNTRY VILLAGE. 


stock is always very small—just a few candies or cakes, 
bread, vegetables, writing materials, school supplies, 
etc. 

For amusement the people have football and cricket 
matches, band concerts and festivals on the “recrea¬ 
tion ground” of the village. They have flower-shows 
and bazaars in the town hall, for the benefit of the 
church; annual agricultural product shows; monthly 
cattle, sheep and horse fairs, and the weekly market- 
day. 








A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 29 

It is at the fairs that the country people best enjoy 
themselves. There are athletic sports, with prizes given 
by the Lord of the castle, the squire or the farmer. 

The villagers enter heartily into thfe contests in 
jumping, throwing, wrestling, sack and wheelbar¬ 
row races. There are greased pigs to be caught, and 
a greased pole to be climbed for prizes hung at the 
top. 

THE VILLAGE INN. 

The village inn is a big solid-looking stone building. 
Its vine-covered walls, gables and dormer windows, 
and its dainty white curtains, give it a very homelike 
look. It has a great doorway that leads to an inner 
court. On either side of the court are the bar and 
the coffee rooms, and at the far end the stables. 

The waiting hostler takes us to the barmaid, who 
meets us with a pretty courtesy, and leads us to the 
chambermaid. She takes us up a dark old oak stair¬ 
way, through a dark hall, and to a pleasant room, 
where we are to pass the night. There is a cheerful 
grate fire, a tall old “grandfather's” clock in the cor¬ 
ner, easy chairs, and writing materials upon the table. 

There is a four-post bed with heavy curtains, and a 
perfect mountain of a feather bed. What a comfortable 
place it is. How well we shall sleep after our long 
ride. We may have our meals served in our rooms or 
in the public coffee room, and we decide to have our 
supper in our room. 

Breakfast is taken in the coffee room; but we are 
the only guests, and see no one but the servants. 
Where is the landlady all this time, and the landlord ? 
Perhaps he is in the tap or bar-room. This is the 


30 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

place where villagers drop in for their glass of beer or 
toddy. It is a plain, bare room, with high-backed 
settles and deal tables. At the end is a counter, pre¬ 
sided over by the rosy-cheeked barmaid. But the 
landlady is not here. She is in the bar parlor. Only 
a few favored customers are admitted to this place. 
This room has a fire in the open grate, a table fur¬ 
nished with writing materials and the morning papers, 
easy chairs, a rug on the floor, and some bright pic¬ 
tures on the wall. Here, before the fire, the squire and 
his steward and the farmers are gathered, talking 
about the crops and sipping ale. 

THE LABORER. 

In some of the houses of this village of a thousand, 
the people are packed together almost as closely as in 
the crowded parts of London. Two or three families 
often occupy a cottage that would be considered too 
small for one family in America. In this place and in 
some others, the farm laborers and other workmen 
have no vegetable gardens at home, so they rent a plot 
of land near the village from the squire. This plot is 
divided into equal-sized strips with paths between, and 
each laborer has a strip, and pays his share of the rent. 
In the summer evenings they gather out here, with 
their wives and children and tend their gardens. 
They hoe, and weed, and visit together,finding this,per¬ 
haps, the pleasantest part of their day’s work. 

These laborers are very poor and depend on their 
’ daily wages for food; but they can usually find em¬ 
ployment throughout the year, as work on the farms 
in England does not stop in winter as in some other 
countries. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 31 

In tlie poorer parts of England a laborer receives 
ten or twelve shillings a week, but in better districts 
twice that amount. Work begins at six o’clock in the 
morning and ends at five in the evening. The 
English laborer eats oftener than the laborer in the 
States. At eight, work is stopped half an hour for 
breakfast; at ten, it is stopped again for lunch; and at 



PLOWING WITH OXEN. 

noon an hour is taken for dinner and rest. At five, 
supper is eaten, and just before bedtime another 
lunch. 

The food of the laborer and his family is poor and 
coarse. Meat is eaten but once or twice a week. The 
cottages are small and apt to be over-crowded, for the 
families are large. There are often but two sleeping 
rooms for a family of eight or ten. It is impossible 











32 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 


for many of the laborers to support their families on 
their weekly wages. They and their wives and child¬ 
ren often do extra, or as they call it “task work/’ to 
earn extra money to keep them out of the poor- 
house. 

During the busy season the men work early and late. 
On some of the farms, mowing machines are used; and 
on others the mowing is done by gangs of men with 
scythes. These gangs go from farm to farm, and 
carry their lunches with them. In their lunch bas¬ 
kets are bread and cheese, and beer or ale is added to 
this at meal time. 

Sometimes the farmer for whom they work sends 
them their ale. 

In September, when the grain is nearly all reaped and 
the hay harvested, the hop picking begins. The hay 
and grain fields look bare and brown, or have just 
been plowed. In the corners of the fields are new 
ricks with tidy roofs of fresh thatch. 

Over in the hop fields are men, women and children 
pulling the hops off vines and putting them into great 
baskets. The poles are taken down as needed, that 
the hops may be easily reached. 

Sometimes the women go out in the fields to help the 
men, and so we find them in the hop gardens, the wheat 
and hay fields. In the hop fields the vines are fastened 
to the poles so that they will climb and not run along 
the ground. Rushes are used to tie the vines, and 
these are carried in a long bag fastened to the waist. 

Hop picking is looked upon as a kind of holiday, 
and the people come from far and near to the hop 
regions in September, It is pleasant, healthy work, 



A LITTLE JOURNEF TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 33 

and tongues are as nimble as fingers, in the merry 
groups in the fields. The children work and play by 
turns, while the grandmothers tend the babies that 
tumble about on the ground near the hop pickers. 

Many who live a number of miles from the fields 
come in great farm wagons. They bring their 


WOMEN WORKING IN THE FIELDS. 

bedding and food, and come prepared to stay till the 
hop-picking season is over. They sleep out of doors 
or in barns or sheds. 

But all do not come in wagons. Many come by 
tram from London. At the station we see a crowd 
of rough-looking people, heavily laden with their bags, 
baskets and household goods, all bent on securing work 
in the hop fields. 




34 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

Would you like to see how the hops are dried? Let 
us stop a minute at this hop kiln. Smoke is issuing 
from its chimney and a door at one end is open, so 
one may be able to learn how the hops are dried. How 
dark it is inside! There are men feeding fires with 
charcoal and brimstone, and the air is heavy with 
fumes. It would soon choke one in this place. Let us 
get outside in the fresh air again. 

In some fields we sometimes see four horses used by 
the ploughman because the soil is so heavy. A boy 
walks along beside the horses to urge them on, and 
constantly shouts at them. At one place a laborer is 
ploughing with bullocks, but we are told these are sel¬ 
dom used now. The steam plow is used now as in the 
States, and the steam thresher is a familiar sight. 
Sometimes these engines come steaming along the 
roads of the country or villages, but our horses have 
become accustomed to them and do not seem to mind 
them. 

The laboring men of Great Britain have made 
notable efforts to improve their condition. Even the 
agricultural laborers are organized. In the cities and 
towns the workmen are so strongly organized that they 
are recognized as a political power. In 1899 the 
General Federation of Trade Unions was organized, 
and twenty-two years later it had 1,500,000 members. 

The unions make their power felt through their 
Trade Union Congress, to which unions may send one 
delegate for every 5,000 members. They also have a 
parliamentary committee of sixteen members, elected 
from the various unions to look after the interests of 
the working classes in parliamentary matters. In 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 35 

short Labor has a political party of its own, which 
always has representatives in Parliament. 

Great Britain has an elaborate system of caring 
for its poor. Besides its many poor law infirmaries, 
general workhouses, and institutions for poor children, 
it provides national health insurance for all workers 
between the ages of sixteen and seventy earning less 
than about $750 a year. There are also old-age pen¬ 
sions for poor people more than seventy years old. 

THE ENGLISH PEOPLE. 

The English people are not so easy to become ac¬ 
quainted with as the people of many other nations. 
They are not always agreeable traveling companions 
and do not talk much to those they do not know. But 
in their own homes we find them to be the most de¬ 
lightful people we have met in all our journeys. 

The better class of English people are the most in¬ 
telligent and refined of any nation. This is not true, 
though, of the middle and lower classes. But most of the 
English are honest, truthful, peaceable and law-abiding. 
They are a religious people and devoted to their 
church. The Episcopal Church is the established 
church of England. On Sunday all the shops, stores, 
and places of business and amusement are closed. The 
streets on this day are almost deserted. 

The English are fond of outdoor exercise and open- 
air sports and games. Perhaps it is due to their habit 
of exercising so much in the open air that they have 
such good health and fine figures. Where a family is 
not well-to-do, and it is necessary for the men to live 
ciose to their work in the cities, outings at the seaside 


36 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

or in the country are provided and planned for as care¬ 
fully as food and clothes. 

The country people know little of the cities; most 
of them live out their lives in or near the villages 
where they were born. 

In fact, the average Englishman hates change. 
His shoes are made on the same wooden block and in 
the same fashion as his father’s and his grandfather’s, 
and he is quite satisfied. His general attitude seems 
to be, “What was good enough for my father is good 
enough for me.” 

For this reason, the English manner of living has 
not changed much in the last century. In general, 
heated bedrooms are considered unhealthful. Draw¬ 
ing rooms and dining rooms are equipped with fire¬ 
places, one to each room and each just large enough to 
hold a scuttle full of soft coal. Americans would find 
themselves shivering, even in their outdoor wraps, in 
rooms which their British hosts would term “stuffy.” 
Modern improvements in heating, however, and even 
American radiators have slowly found their way into 
many English homes. Such ancient historic buildings 
as Windsor Castle and Warwick Castle enjoy the 
blessings of steam heat. Open plumbing, modern 
bathtubs, and electric lighting have also made con¬ 
siderable headway, especially in London homes. 

By nature, the Englishman is exceedingly reserved. 
So carefully are his emotions repressed that people of 
other nations often make the mistake of thinking him 
without feeling or sympathy. He practices good 
manners, is rarely inquisitive, and has a strong ten¬ 
dency to mind his own business. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 37 

ENGLISH CHILDREN. 

There are no children in the world so carefully educa¬ 
ted and cared for as the English children. In some ways 
we find their home and school life much like our own; 
in other ways quite different. The English children 
are not allowed to do as they like, as are many Ameri¬ 
can children. They are respectful and obedient to 
their parents and teachers, and do not expect to have 
their own way. 

During their baby days they are kept in the nursery 
in charge of a nurse. They are not allowed to romp 
and run about the whole house, and do not take their 
meals with the older members of the family, but with 
the nurse or governess in the nursery. Their table is 
provided with good, plain food, but with none of the 
luxuries, not even where the family is very wealthy. 
Until the boys are sent away to boarding school, and 
the girls are big girls, they have only this plain food. 
They have their daily cold bath and out-of-doors exer¬ 
cise and games, under the watchful care of a nurse or 
governess. 

Study lasts but a few hours each day,but their lessons 
are not all from books. The nurse and the governess 
must see that correct habits are formed and give les¬ 
sons in manners and deportment. The boys remain 
with the governess until the age of eight or ten, and 
are then sent to a boarding school or day school. The 
girls remain with the governess until they are seven¬ 
teen, or attend a private day school and receive les¬ 
sons from tutors or masters. 

These children see very little of other children, and 
are seldom allowed to play with them. The governess 


38 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

is their constant companion. She chooses their read¬ 
ing and accompanies them in their out-of-door walks 
and games. 

But there are many children who are not so well 
cared for. There are thousands of children in Great 



A LABORER’S FAMILY. 

Britain who must work for their living, in mines or in 
factories, or in the streets or fields. They have few 
holidays or games, no toys or books, and the poorest 
and coarsest of food. 

Others have much to do at home, because the 
mother as well as the father must work to help sup- 







A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 39 


port the family. The little girls in these poor families 
learn early to mind the baby, wash, mend, cook, go to 
market and care for the home. These children attend 
the board schools, and have lessons in housekeeping. 

The best places to see the English children are the 
parks. The paths and benches, the shady nooks and 
grass are home to them. They are there early and 
late. Most of them are with nurses and governesses, 
mothers or older sisters. Some walk primly up and 
down the walks; others romp and’visit to their hearts* 
content. 

The parks are the only playgrounds that some of 
these children possess. 

Their homes are small. Sometimes the kitchen is 
the only living room, and if the children stay indoors 
they are in the way. So they come to the parks. 
Many of them go without hats or bonnets, but none 
go barefoot. Some of the lassies wear white bonnets 
with frills about their faces and remind us of daisies. 
But neither boys nor girls care much for a covering for 
the head or face, for the sun does not scorch the face 
as in America. 

The summer dress of a child in skirts has no sleeves, 
and on a chilly day the arms are very apt to look red 
or purple. The knees are also bare, for the stockings 
come up only a couple of inches above the shoe tops. 
Rubbers are seldom worn, as their shoes have very 
thick soles. What clumsy shoes! Great heavy affairs, 
with the bottoms all studded over with big projecting 
nails. But they wear well and keep the feet dry. 

The boys and girls do not play their games together, 
except when very young. The boys seem to like the 


40 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

rougher, more violent games and the girls the quiet 
ones. But neither boys nor girls are quarrelsome while 
at their play. 

Cricket is the national and favorite game of the 
English boy, just as baseball is with the boys of the 
States. It is the ambition of every English boy to 
become a clever cricketer, and if allowed he will keep 
at it all day. This game is played in the streets, the 
fields, parks or wherever room can be found. 

The girls are as fond of their skipping ropes as the 
boys are of cricket. They play many ring games, such 
as drop-the-hankerchief, thump-back, and orange-and- 
lemon. In this last the girls form in two long oppos¬ 
ing lines and have a tug of war. 

The holidays are Christmas, May-day, and the Fifth 
of November. May-day means more to the children 
of the villages than to those in London, however. In 
the villages groups or processions of children parade 
the streets, carrying sticks with flowers tied on the 
ends. They sing songs before the houses and in return 
receive pennies from the listeners. 

The money received is spent for candy or cakes. In 
the villages, out-side of London, fetes are held, and at 
these fairs are merry-go-rounds, shooting galleries, 
swings and wandering gypsies, and vendors with all 
kinds of wonderful things to sell. 

The fifth of November is “Guy Fawkes Day.” This 
is the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot. Guy 
Fawkes and some of his friends meant to blow up the 
king and parliament. But the plot was discovered 
and the king and members of parliament saved from 
a terrible death. For a time the fifth of November 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 41 


was observed by thanksgiving services in the church, 
but the day is now celebrated by children more than 
grown people. 

In some towns the day is celebrated by proces¬ 
sions, bonfires and sham battles. 

Christmas is celebrated in much the same way as in 
our own country. The churches are made bright with 
evergreens and holly berries; the Christmas tree is hung 
with presents in the schoolroom of the home; Christ¬ 
mas carols are sung. 

ENGLAND TO-DAY. 

England does not seem a very important country 
when one looks at the map and compares it with 
other countries. It is but 400 miles long, and 360 
miles wide; yet it is the richest kingdom in the world. 

Scotland and Ireland were once separate kingdoms, 
but are now united to England and Wales under the 
title of the United Kingdom of Great Britain arid 
Ireland. This is the home country of the British 
Empire, but is only a small part of it. 

Great Britain is a great mother country. It has so 
many children that all cannot be fed and cared for at 
home. Many of them therefore go to other coun¬ 
tries, where colonies are formed. The population of 
the United Kingdom is 47,000,000, and of England 
and Wales about 38,000,000. So you see it is nec¬ 
essary for some of these people to go elsewhere for 
homes. It would be hard to find a corner of the earth 
where the British have not settled. 

The British colonies are protected by Great Britain, 
and some of them have become parts of the British 


42 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

Empire. This now extends over more than 11,000,- 
000 square miles, and numbers 441,000,000 people. 
The principal colonial possessions are Gibraltar, Heli¬ 
goland, the Channel Islands, Malta and Cypress in Eu¬ 
rope. In North America are the Dominion of Canada 
and the West India Islands. In South America are 
British Guiana and the Falkland Islands. There are 
Australia, New Zealand and the Fiji Islands, and in 
Africa are the Gold Coast, Sierra Leone, Gambia, St. 
Helena, Ascension, the Cape Colony, Natal, the British 
South Africa and Mauritius. In Asia are India, 
Hong Kong, British Burmah, Ceylon, Labuan, Aden, 
the Straits Settlement, and Andaman and Nicobar 
Islands. 

Australia and Cape Colony are self-governing colon¬ 
ies, and others are a part of the British Empire. But 
though widely separated from the mother country by 
lands and seas, these colonies and distant parts of the 
Empire are united by telegraph. There are lines 
reaching to India and to Australia, as well as to 
America. 

The army of England consists of over a million men, 
and as English soldiers are said to be among the best 
and bravest in the world, England is well able to 
defend herself. All of these men are not stationed 
in England, but in different parts of the Empire. 
Some are at home, others in the colonies, and in India. 

England has the largest and strongest navy in the 
world. She needs many war ships, because her pos¬ 
sessions are scattered through so many parts of the 
earth. 

If we could but visit each of these British 


posses- 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 43 

sions or colonies, what wonderful things might we not 
see! But we will content ourselves for the present 
year with a short visit in England and Wales, and a 
month each in Scotland and Ireland. 

NORTHERN ENGLAND. 

We have seen England’s two most important cities, 
its favorite summer resorts, and something of the life 
of the people in both city and country. Now let us 
visit some of the places made famous by English his¬ 
tory or literature. We will begin at the far north and 
travel southward, stopping wherever there is a place 
of especial interest or beauty. 

We find England on the north separated from Scot¬ 
land by the Cheviot Hills. South of the hills there 
are high, dreary, wild moorlands, with little vegeta¬ 
tion excepting grass and heather, which the Scotch 
people love so much. Farther south are plains and 
valleys, quarries and mines of coal and iron. These 
mining districts are manufacturing centers, and here 
are many of England’s largest and busiest cities. 

Northumberland is a busy mining district, whose 
chief city is Newcastle. Look at the mouth of the 
River Tyne. What a fine harbor! See the hundreds 
of vessels coming and going. Those from foreign 
lands are laden with provisions. Those going out are 
carrying coal. The castle, from which the city was 
named, still stands, and part of it is used for a museum 
for the war relics found in the neighborhood. South 
of this county lies Durham, another county rich in 
coal. 

Near the coast of this part of England, are the 



of this brave girl who saved the lives of so many ship¬ 
wrecked soldiers, I am sure. When she died many of 
the leading men of England followed her to the grave. 


A MARKET PLACE. 


44 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 


Fame Islands. On one of these islands is a light¬ 
house. and it was here that Grace Darling lived. Her 
father was the light-house keeper. You have heard 







A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 45 

A monument was raised to her memory, too, and she 
will always be remembered as one of the bravest 
women in England. 

Not far away is another island called “Holy Isle.” 
It was used as a refuge by persecuted priests in olden 
times. Sir Walter Scott has told us about it in a 
poem called “Marmion.” 

The counties of Westmoreland and Cumberland, in 
the Northwestern part of England, are especially noted 
for their beautiful lakes and mountains. The largest 
lake, Windermere, does not seem very large to us. It 
is but little over ten miles long, and the highest moun¬ 
tain, Scafell, is less than 3,000 feet in height, yet the 
country is attractive to every traveler. 

One reason for this is that three of England's most 
celebrated poets made this lake country their home, 
and the subject of many of their poems. These men 
were Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey. Words¬ 
worth lived at Rydal, and at Grasmere where he is 
buried. Almost his entire life of eighty years was 
passed in this lovely lake county, and many of 
his poems have been written about it. He believed 
that too much had been written of heroes and knights, 
and so he wrote of the simple, honest people among 
whom he lived, and the beautiful things in nature— 
the flowers, fields, forests, the brooks and birds. 

East of Westmoreland, and south of Durham, lies 
Yorkshire, one of the largest counties of England. 
Along the coast are quaint little fishing villages and 
towns used as health resorts by the weary workers in 
the manufacturing districts to the southwest. The 
cliffs are of chalk, which have been worn into many 
queer forms by the waves. 


46 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

In this county are the York Wolds, beneath which 
lies a peculiar kind of stone. It is soft and easily 
worked with the chisel when it is first quarried, but 
with exposure to the air grows hard and flinty. 



YORK CATHEDRAL. 

In the center of Yorkshire we find the old city of 
York, and York Cathedral, which is one of the grand¬ 
est gothic buildings in the world. England is noted 
for its beautiful cathedrals, but it has only two arch¬ 
bishopries—York and Canterbury. 









A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 47 

The cathedral rises from a lovely landscape. The 
country round about is dotted with castles and mon¬ 
asteries. The building has a grand front and three 
stately towers. The choir and ceilings are carved 
wood, and its windows are richly stained glass. It has 
an east window, which is one of the largest in the 
world. 

There are many other cathedrals of which we have 
read—Ely, considered the most beautiful, and Salis¬ 
bury, which has the loftiest spire in all England; and 
Lincoln and Exeter. How we wish we might see each, 
but time will not permit. 

In the western part of Yorkshire are wild, bleak, 
swampy moorlands. The hills are high and in some 
places barren, in others covered with heather, gorse 
and moss. There are few houses or signs of life of any 
kind. Even the birds seem to have forsaken the place. 

South of Yorkshire the land along the coast is low, 
flat and marshy. It is known as the fen district. It 
is not a pleasant country in which to travel, and we 
will not stop there. 

MANUFACTURING CITIES. 

England is a land of large towns and great manu¬ 
factories. So large is its population that it is said the 
crops raised on its farms each year would not feed the 
inhabitants three months. What do the people do 
then for their food? They must import it from other 
countries, and in order to give employment to the peo¬ 
ple that will provide them with the means to buy food 
and other necessities England has become a manufac¬ 
turing nation. If the people lack material they send 


48 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

out ships to the countries that produce it and buy it. 
They carry it back to England, make it up into use* 
ful articles and sell them back to the countries that 
furnished the raw material. 

A few hours’ ride southward from the Lake District 
brings us to a group of manufacturing towns. We 
cannot visit all,*but will find out what each is cele¬ 
brated for and visit as many as we can. There are 
Leeds and Bradford, noted for the manufacture of 
woolen goods. Much of the broadcloth we use in the 
States may come from the towns in the west of York¬ 
shire. Leeds is also noted for porcelain china; Sheffield 
for cutlery; Birmingham for plated ware; Manchester, 
Wigan, and Preston for cotton. 

Sheffield is set in the midst of this moorland coun¬ 
try. About it are hills and valleys, and beautiful 
streams, yet the city itself is one of the ugliest places 
in the world. The streets are narrow and dirty. The 
air is filled with steam and smoke, and the rattle and 
thump of machinery fill one’s ears on every hand. 

Yet this disagreeable town contributes much to the 
comfort of the people everywhere. It sends out rails 
with which to build our railroads, it makes the plates 
which encase our steamers, it makes the scythes with 
which we cut our grain, the knives and forks and spoons 
on our tables, and perhaps the scissors and pocket 
knives that we have with us. 

We wish to see cotton spinning and calico printing, 
and so visit Manchester, for this city alone has a hun¬ 
dred cotton mills. It is the third city in size in England, 
having a population of 741,000. It is connected with 
Liverpool by a huge canal, which really makes it a sea- 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 49 

port town. This canal is thirty-six miles long, one 
hundred and twenty feet wide and twenty feet deep. 
Ships laden with cotton from our own shores, come 
through this canal and unload their cargoes almost at 
the doors of Manchester’s great mills. 



A MARKET WOMAN. 

The most interesting place in the city is the Ex¬ 
change, an immense building where the buyers and 
sellers of cotton meet on certain days. Crowds of peo¬ 
ple from many parts of the country are present on these 
market days and the Exchange is a lively scene. 

North of Manchester is the city of Preston, another 
cotton manufacturing town. It was at this place that 








50 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 


the inventor of the spinning-jinny, Richard Ark¬ 
wright, was born. 

North of Birmingham we enter a belt of England 
called the Black Country, because there is so much 
black smoke and dust from the great manufacture of 



KENILWORTH CASTLE. 


iron. Tall chimneys and furnaces are everywhere, 
with their clouds of smoke and flames. At night it 
seems as if we were in the midst of a number of vol¬ 
canoes. The country is covered with a network of 
railways and mines, and the roar and rumble of ma¬ 
chinery is heard in every busy town. 

Birmingham is the fourth city of England in size, 
containing 919,000 inhabitants. It is one of the bus- 








A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 51 

iest cities in the world. Almost every thing under the 
sun is manufactured here; and it is sometimes called 
the toyshop of Europe. The Gillott pen we use is 
made here, and guns, nails, screws, pins, watch chains, 
jewelry of alBkinds, pencil cases, buttons, glass beads, 
sewing machines, bicycles, tools of many kinds and 
almost every kind of metallic ware. 

Birmingham has a fine town hall that contains a . 
magnificent pipe organ. Every third year a grand 
musical festival is held, and musical people from alL 
over England attend the concerts. 

Had we but time we would visit Witney, where 
blankets are made; Kidderminster, to see carpets wov¬ 
en; Spitalfields and Macclesfield, for silks; Barnsby for 
linen, Coventry for watches and ribbons, Hamilton for 
lace, and Nottingham for lace, stockings, boots and 
shoes 

THE GARDEN OF ENGLAND. 

We are now in the great county of Warwickshire, 
sometimes called the Garden of England. It is a 
quiet, peaceful farm country, with fertile fields, perfect 
roads and cosy vine-covered cottage homes. The 
town of Kenilworth itself interests us little. It is the 
castle, a mile beyond, we wish to see. 

The ruins of this castle are probably the grandest 
in England. This stately old building covers several 
acres, and is enclosed by lofty walls fifteen feet thick. 
These walls are strengthened by massive crumbling 
towers, now partly covered with ivy. One part is 
called the Normon Keep, and was at one time three or 
four stories high. There are broken arches, uncased 
windows, a great banquet hall with fallen stones, 



52 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

and great kitchens where the feasts were prepared for 
the noble occupants and their guests. 

The castle is very old, but some parts more so than 
others. As the place passed from one owner to an¬ 
other, additions were made. 


WARWICK CASTLE. 

This castle was a favorite resort of kings and queens 
in the olden times. During the reign of Edward I, a 
grand tournament was held here, in which a hundred 
knights, with their ladies, were in attendance. Sir 
Walter Scott has told us all about it in his story of 
Kenilworth. 

The situation of the castle adds much to its beauty. 
It is elevated above the surrounding country, andsur- 







A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 53 

rounded with sloping meadows, shady groves and 
pasture lands. 

Five miles from Kenilworth, on the bank of the 
Avon River, is another famous place, Warwick castle. 
From the bridge of the river we have a fine view of 
the castle. It is a fine old place, containing relics of 
the past which are of interest to every student of 
English history. Some of these relics are kept in a 
room in the gateway. Among others are the shield, 
sword, breast-plate and helmet of the former owner, 
Guy of Warwick. 

In some of the rooms are paintings, busts, vases 
and rare old pieces of furniture that we should like to 
examine carefully, but the guide rushes us through 
and leads us at last to Guy’s Tower for a view of the 
surrounding neighborhood. 

STRATFORD. 

. About eight miles away is the old town of Stratford, 
sacred to the memory of England’s greatest poet, 
William Shakespeare. Stratford-on-Avon is a sleepy 
little place, with pleasant and quaint old houses, with 
flowers on the window-sills or porches, and vines and 
climbing roses over the walls. 

By the river bank stands the church where the poet 
is buried. It is in a grove of ancient elms, and sur¬ 
rounded by the graves of those who died three 
hundred years ago. It is a beautiful little building, 
and Shakespeare loved it. He asked to be buried be¬ 
neath its chapel, and his wish was respected. In the 
floor of the chancel we find the plain marble slab that 
marks his resting place. Upon the slab are cut these 
words: 


54 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

“ Good friend, for Jesus sake forbeare, 

To digg the dust enclosed heare; 

Blest be he that spares these stones, 

And cursed be he that moves my bones. ” 

Above this tablet in a niche in the wall of the chan¬ 
cel is a marble bust of the poet, which is thought to 
have been a likeness. Farther down the river bank 
stands Shakespeare Memorial Theatre and Library, 
which was opened with a grand festival on the 315th 
anniversary of the poet’s birth, April 23, 1879. 

The town has also a beautiful memorial drinking 
fountain, which was given by an American, George W. 
Childs. 

The house where the poet was born is in the center 
of the town, and not far from the church. It is a low 
wooden house, built in the old English fashion, with 
oak timbers filled in with plaster or clay. Inside the 
house the timbers are black with age, and the rough 
walls are covered with the names of visitors. Among 
these are the names of Dickens and Tennyson. 

Some of the rooms on the second floor are used as a 
museum, where are gathered a few Shakespeare relics. 
His portrait is shown, and his chair and desk and a 
few other articles. The house is cared for by a keep¬ 
er, who was placed in charge by the English govern¬ 
ment. 

Nowhere in England is the country so lovely as 
that part along the Thames, through which we are 
now going. Every vine-clad cottage is a picture, every 
hedge and lane a thing of beauty. 

We are almost at Oxford. What grand old build¬ 
ings are these looming up before us? They are col- 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 55 



leges, for Oxford is a college town. Young men come 
here to live after they have left school and stay for 
three or four years to finish their education. 

Oxford University consists of a large number of 
separate colleges united under one head. There 


OXFORD, ENGLAND. 

are twenty-three of these independent colleges. The 
president of this University is always a nobleman, who 
holds this position for life. Lectures are given by pro¬ 
fessors, as in our own colleges, but many of the stu¬ 
dents are assisted in their studies by private tutors. 
There are many vacations in college life, but studies 
often go on just the same away from college, with the 
aid of these tutors. 









56 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

We can see many of the students walking about 
with queer-looking caps on their heads and little black 
gowns over their shoulders. Let us enter the gate and 
walk about the gardens a while. 

The buildings are some of them over 600 years old, 
and they look it. The stone shows the effect of the 
weather. But inside, the rooms are very comfortable. 
There are easy chairs and sofas, and flowers in the win¬ 
dows. In the dining room are long tables’ where all 
the men dine. The walls have many pictures.. 

Where are the men? Some of them are under the 
trees smoking and drinking. Others are playing lawn 
tennis and cricket, and others are practicing races on the 
river. This is the chapel where prayers are said every 
night and morning. The students must attend whether 
they wish to or not, and a porter stands at the door 
before services to check their names off, as they enter. 

Who are those men dressed in white flannels? They 
have just come from the station in large wagonettes 
drawn by four horses. They are cricketers come to 
the college grounds to play a match. 

Now let us go down to the river to see the college 
races. How gay the river is! See the yachts cruising 
up and down with their white sails flying. There are 
flat-bottomed boats too, called punts. In them are 
men lying at full length on cushions, and with books 
in their hands. How comfortable they look! These 
punts are pushed along by a man with a pole in his 
hand. 

There are barges by the side of the river, too. They 
belong to the colleges, and inside them are easy chairs 
and couches and books. What a pleasant place to 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 57 

rest! There are big boats called tubs, that cannot 
upset easily, and slim boats shooting rapidly through 
the water. There are nine men in each of the boats, 
called the College Eights. They are going to race. 
There is a crowd of college men on the bank on their 
way up the river, too. They are going to watch the races. 

A gun is fired; that is the signal, and the boats are 
off. The men on the bank cheer the men of their own 
college crew, and urge them on to do their best. The 
Englishmen at this college spend a great deal of time 
boating and at other out-of-door sports, but they do 
much studying, also. There are examinations to pass, 
and they are anxious to carry off honors. If a stu¬ 
dent fails a certain number of times he cannot com¬ 
pete for honors again. 

Many of the great men of England have been edu¬ 
cated in this university, and England is very proud of 
the place. Oxford is thought by many people to be 
one of the most beautiful little cities in the world. It 
has both old-fashioned and modern buildings, stately 
halls and libraries, chapels with spires and pinnacles 
like cathedrals, ivy-covered walls and towers, lovely 
garden lawns and walks shaded by grand old trees. 

Cambridge is another university town, with almost 
as many colleges as Oxford, which are quite as noted. 

CANTERBURY. 

To see the most interesting of all England's cathe¬ 
drals, we must go to the county of Kent in the south¬ 
eastern part of England. In the old city of Canter¬ 
bury, on the site occupied hundreds of years ago by 
the first church, now stands a magnificent cathedral. 



58 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

Cathedral means a church built in the form of a Greek 
or Latin cross, and containing a bishop’s seat or 
throne. 

The arch-bishop of Canterbury is the head of the 
English church, and ranks next to royalty. He is the 
first peer of the land, and he alone has authority 
to crown the monarchs of England, though the 
ceremony is performed in Westminster Abbey in 
London. His London residence is Lambeth Palace 
on the Thames, not far from the Parliament House. 


CANTERBURY. 

SOUTHERN ENGLAND. 

In the southern part of England is the great 
Plain of Salisbury, with pleasant, prosperous farms 
and fertile fields. Long years ago this plain was the 
scene of many a fierce battle between the Britains and 
their enemies, and hosts of warriors lie buried here. 






A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 59 



CANTERBURY CATHEDRAL. 

At Stonehenge we find the ruins of an open temple, 
built by the ancient Britons for use in Druid worship. 
It consists at present of three concentric circles of 
huge granite boulders. Some of these are twenty feet 
high, and weigh from twelve to seventy tons. These 
were connected by enormous flat stones, too large to 
have been lifted by human hands. It seems as if 
these ancient people must have had machinery, but 
no one knows. 

South of the Island of Wight, across the channel 
and near the coast of France, lies a group of islands 
called the Channel Islands. The largest of these are 
the Guersey, Jersey, Alderney and Sark. Where have 
you heard these names before? They sound very 
familiar. Who has not heard of Jersey and Alderney 
cows? 







60 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

These islands are noted for their fine cattle, choice 
fruits and flowers, for their delightful winter climate 
and picturesque scenery. 

England’s two great naval ports are Portsmouth 
and Plymouth. In Portsmouth harbor 1,000 ships 
can be at anchor at the same time. It is a strongly 



PLYMOUTH HARBOR. 

fortified town, and the principal naval station of Eng¬ 
land. Its streets are full of soldiers, and in its har¬ 
bors are many modern warships. 

The dress of the English soldiers at the forts seems 
rather odd to us. They wear little caps stuck on the 
side of the head, and their clothes are very tight. 





A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 61 

The port of Plymouth is also on the southern coast 
of England. It was from this harbor that the May¬ 
flower started to make its journey to America. It 
was for this town that the first Plymouth in the 
States was named. There is little to see but the 
arsenals, dockyards, warships and forts. 

Fourteen miles to the south is the Eddystone light¬ 
house, whose light can be seen many miles out at sea. 

CORNWALL. 

Cornwall is a little county in the western end of 
England, including Land’s End. It is a bleak, bare, 
hilly country, with a wild, rugged coast. But the 
riches of the country lie underground, for Cornwall 
furnishes nine-tenths of all the tin and one-half of all 
the copper produced by the whole British Isles. It is 
a splendid place to collect specimens of ores, for one 
can find all sorts of rocks, such as granite, porphyry, 
horneblend, mica-slate, serpentine, as well as tin and 
copper. 

The best tin mines are on the south side of Corn¬ 
wall, and we can visit one of these mines that is open 
to the day-light, and see the men and horses moving 
about at work. Near Cape Cornwall is a copper mine 
that extends under the sea. Veins of copper run along 
the cliffs into the sea, and are hidden in the water, 
but a tram-road has been built down a precipice and 
the mine is entered by ladders until below the sea 
level. The salt water oozes through the ceiling and 
the ocean roars over the heads of the miners as they 
work. 

We notice many buildings deserted and in ruins, and 


62 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

are told that some of the mines have been closed because 
mining has ceased to be profitable. The miners have 
many of them gone to America to the copper mines in 
Colorado, Nevada and Michigan. 

There are many brave and noble people among 
the rough fisherfolk of Cornwall. Many a sailor has 
been saved from an ocean grave by their kindness. 
They often risk their own lives to rescue others from 
danger, and think nothing of it. 

At the extreme end of Cornwall is a little island 
called St. MichaePs Mount. It rises straight up from 
the water to a height of two hundred feet. One can 
reach it from the mainland by a natural rocky cause¬ 
way, one-half a mile long. This causeway is under 
water except at low tide, three hours every day. On 
the top is a very old castle, said to have been the home 
of hermits long ago. 

From Land's End we go out to the Scilly Islands. 
There are a great many of these, but only five of them 
are inhabited. The people who live here call them¬ 
selves Scillonians, but other people call them “Scilly 
Folk." The climate of the islands is mild, and the 
rocks enclose many fertile little valleys which are used 
for flower farms. Here flowers of all kinds are culti¬ 
vated during the winter—jonquils, daffodills, crocuses, 
nacissuses—and sent to London and other large cities, 
where they find a ready market. 

How quickly time flies! Our month is almost over 
and we have not yet seen Wales. 


A Little Journey to 

Wales 


Wales, though one of our nearest neighbors across 
the sea, is not visited by travelers so often as other 
parts of Great Britain, and the people who have visited 
it have told us so little about the country that we are 
very anxious to see it. 

It is not a large country, having but a fourth the 
area of the state of Ohio. Its greatest length from 
north to south is only 140 miles, while its width in 
places is but 40 miles, a distance a railway train will 
cover in an hour. 

Wales is a very old country and will well repay us 
for the time we shall spend journeying through it, for 
it is most interesting to both the student and the 
tourist. Though so small, and connected so closely 
with England and Scotland, it has a people and a lan¬ 
guage as different from those of the other portions of 
Great Britain as the people and the language of Mexico 
are from our own. 

At one time Wales was a land of warriors. Before- 
gunpowder was known, their weapons were the lance 
and the bow, in the use of which they were very ex¬ 
pert. 

They were being attacked continually by the people 
of different countries who wished to subdue them, but 
they were very brave and always ready to defend 
themselves. They did not then have farms and culti- 

o3 



64 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

vate the land as now, but they had flocks of sheep and 
herds of cattle, which gave them food. 

The people of Wales have always kept much to 
themselves, and have been very jealous to preserve the 
purity of their language, and their customs of life. 
Thus they have kept themselves as a distinct race 
from the English people. 

Because they were thus able to defend their land, 
and keep themselves separate from others, they were 
called “ Welsh/' which means “ strangers.” But the 
Welsh have always called themselves “Cymri,” which 
is a word of their own language and means “ native to 
the soil.” 

Wales was through many centuries the scene of 
constant warfare, which was always a heroic struggle 
to maintain freedom against the attacks of different 
powerful nations. We shall find everywhere the remains 
of encampments, fortresses, castles and fortified man¬ 
sions, telling where their battles were fought long ago. 

Wales is the south-west portion of the island of 
Great Britain; it is bounded on the north by the Irish 
Sea, and by the estuary of the River Dee; west by St. 
George’s Channel; south by the Bristol Channel, and 
east by counties of England. 

The estuary of a river is its mouth, where the cur¬ 
rent of the river, flowing out, meets and mingles with 
the inflowing tide of the sea. 

CHESTER. 

Six miles from the border line that separates Wales 
from England, is the town of Chester. It is situated 
on the river Dee,—the very river the old song tells us 
about. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 65 



There dwelt a miller hale and bold 
Beside the river Dee; 

He worked and sang from morn till night, 

No lark more blithe than he. 

This is the place from which most travellers start to 
visit Wales, and it is a very good place to come, for it 
is more like a Welsh than an English city. It has a 


OLD CHESTER, WALES. 

population of 40,000 people, and so many of them are 
Welsh that some people imagine when here they are 
already in Wales. 

The city is surrounded by a wall seven or eight feet 
thick, and on the top is a walk where people go to 


















66 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

promenade and get a view of the country. This wall 
is very, very old. No one knows just who built it, but 
it is thought to have been built by the Romans who 
invaded England centuries ago. What wonderful 
workers and warriors those old Romans were! * But 
they found their match when they met the sturdy 
Welshmen, and they probably felt the need of stone 
walls to protect them from the attacks of these 
patriots. 

What queer old houses! And the sidewalks! There 
are none like them in the world. They are built on 
the roofs of the houses, and covered with galleries to 
protect the promenaders from the rain. The only in¬ 
convenient thing about these walks is that one has to 
go down and up again at each cross street. 

Leaving Chester we cross the river and follow its 
banks for a time. When the tide is in it looks like a 
very noble river, but when the tide is out it shrinks to 
a tiny creek. It does not seem to be used much now 
for purposes of navigation, though it was once more im¬ 
portant than the Mersey, the great river that carries 
the shipping of Liverpool. 

The train bears us swiftly through the country, past 
towns and villages, into the hills. What a beautiful 
country! Look at the tall mountains just ahead. 
We are approaching the Snowdon Range, the great 
mountain range of Wales. The mountain is pierced 
by a tunnel, through which our train carries us. 

The highest peak in this range is also called Snow¬ 
don. It means a snowy height. It is the highest 
mountain in either England or Wales, rising 3,770 feet 
above the sea. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 67 

The top of this mountain is not more than six or 
seven yards in diameter and is surrounded by a wall. 
People often go up to the top for a view of the coun¬ 
try, or to see the sun rise. From this point one can 
see much of North Wales, of the sea, and nearly fifty 
lakes, or “tarns,” as the Welsh people call them. On 



SNOWDON. 

the rocky hill sides ponies, sheep and goats are graz¬ 
ing. What lively animals these goats are! They 
jump from one crag to another as no other animal 
could. The Welsh people .are very fond of goats, and 
often make pets of them. 







68 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

What dear little ponies, with shaggy coats and long 
manes. We shall soon want some of them for a ride 
through the mountains. They are surer footed than 
any human being, and they know every road and path 
for miles around. 

This is the most mountainous district that we shall 
see in North Wales, but there are also extensive moors. 
These moors are tracts of waste land whose soil is too 
poor to repay cultivation. They are usually covered 
with patches of heath (or heather, as it is also called), 
and are sometimes wet and marshy. Peat bogs, too, 
are found on these moors. 

Let us stop to take a closer look at the heather, 
which is a useful plant, if it does grow in waste places. 
Here is a clump of it we can examine. It is a low- 
growing shrub, with very small evergreen leaves. It 
is in bloom, and its clusters of pink flowers are very 
lovely. 

The heather is used for brooms, for thatching the 
roofs of the humbler homes, for beds for the poor, and 
for fuel. We shall see few more beautiful sights than 
this field of heather in bloom. 

Now we come to Holywell Station, where we will 
stop long enough to visit the picturesque ruin of Bas¬ 
ing werk Abbey, which is close by. 

Some famous dikes are near. Watt's Dike ends 
at the coast near Basingwerk, while Offa's Dike runs 
southward as far as the mouth of the Wye River— 
that is almost to the southern part of Wales. 

These dikes are embankments, such as we may see 
along the rivers in various parts of the United States, 
where they have been built to protect low lands from 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 69 



CONWAY CASTLE—THE BRIDGE ENTRANCE. 








70 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

the river’s overflow. With us they are called levees. 

Further on we come to Conway, an ancient fortified 
town. Here stands Conway Castle, a magnificent fort¬ 
ress, now the most beautiful ruin in Wales. 

This castle was built by King Edward I to hold the 
Welsh in check. The walls of this castle are twelve 
and fifteen feet in thickness, and strengthened by 
eight massive circular towers. Here, at least, we may 
wander about without guides to urge us on. We may 
linger in the courts, the towers, the battlements, the 
stairways, the banqueting hall and the chambers as 
long as we wish. The roof of the beautiful banquet¬ 
ing room is gone, but there are still the wide fire¬ 
places with their rich carvings. What fine feasts King 
Edward and his nobles must have had in this great 
old hall. 

The wall about the town is 1J miles in length, 12 
feet thick and fortified with towers and battlements. 

Conway River has been celebrated from earliest 
times for its pearl fisheries. The pearls, which are 
sometimes very valuable, are found in the shell of the 
pearl mussel. 

^ear Llandudno is the vast rocky promontory called 
Great Ormes Head, and the smaller one called Little 
Ormes Head. The former is now a place for recrea¬ 
tion. The cliffs are hollowed out by the sea and 
abound with seabirds. 

The scenery in rural Wales is always picturesque, 
and often grand and beautiful. Here and there are 
rounded hills, cultivated to the top, but there is much 
land that is of little use for agriculture. There are 
few ploughed fields, as in England, for the Welsh do 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 71 

not grow much corn. But in the cultivated parts 
good crops of grain and vegetables are grown. 

The hills are occupied by small mountain sheep ; 
and Welsh ponies and cattle. There are old farm 
houses, in which generations of the same family have 
dwelt, and pleasant stone cottages mantled with ivy 
and surrounded by roses. Here and there are stately 
mansions and ruins of castles and strongholds. 

What a clattering noise! What can it be? We are 
near the town of Bangor, which has slate quarries that 
keep 25,000 men busy. Look across at that mountain¬ 
side and you will see a quarry. The Penrhyn slate 
quarries are the largest in the world and quarry about 
300 tons of slate every day. Most of the slate roofs 
of Great Britain come from Wales. 

A closer view of the quarry shows it to be about 
1,000 feet deep. It looks like a huge amphitheater. 
It is interesting to watch the men at work in the 
quarry. Some are blasting, and some are splitting and 
dressing the slate. Only a small part of the slate is 
quarried. There are four kinds of slate, red, blue, 
green and gray,—all found in this quarry. We buy 
some little objects carved in slate to take home as 
souvenirs, and then visit the Castle. At Penrhyn 
Castle lives Lord Penrhyn, who owns the quarries. It 
is a magnificent place with a park seven miles in cir¬ 
cumference. The park is surrounded by a high slate 
fence, to keep out intruders. 

Bangor is one of the oldest cities of Wales. It has 
a fine cathedral and the University or College of North 
Wales; but the thing that interests us most in this 
neighborhood are the two magnificent bridges crossing 


72 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

Menai Strait and connecting the mainland with the 
island of Anglesey. 

The Menai Strait is the piece of water running 
between the island and the coast. See the wonderful 
bridge that goes across! It is the longest bridge in 
Great Britain, and is so high that large ships can pass 



MENAI STRAIT SUSPENSION BRIDGE. 

under it without lowering their masts. It is made of 
thousands of pieces of iron and will carry the heaviest 
trains. This bridge, called Britannia, cost over half a 
million dollars and was five years in being built. 

Crossing to Anglesey we come to Holyhead, the 
market town of North Wales, and an important point 
in Anglesey. Holyhead is on an island which is con- 









A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 73 

nected with the mainland by a huge embankment 
three quarters of a mile in length. (This is the termi¬ 
nation of the great railroads from London and Chester, 
and the most convenient point from which to depart 
for Ireland.) 

There is a great pier, nearly 1,000 feet in length, 



CAERNARVON CASTLE, WALES 


upon which is a marble arch, that was erected in 
honor of the visit of King George IV. in 1821. On 
South Stack, a lonely rock three miles west, is a light¬ 
house, which has a powerful light, 212 feet above high 
water mark. If we wish, we may go up and inspect 
its great lamps, for there are twenty-one in all, with 




74 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

powerful reflectors, which at night throw out their 
light to guide the ships safely into port. 

The promontory of the Head is an immense preci¬ 
pice, which affords shelter for innumerable seabirds, 
such as gulls, cormorants, herons and razor-bills. On 
the highest crag is the home of the peregrine falcon, 
ihe bird so greatly esteemed when falconry was the 
fashionable sport of the nobles. 

Journeying on we come to Caernarvon, an old, old 
town situated on the Menai Strait. Its Castle is re¬ 
garded as the finest in the kingdom and was designed 
by the architect of Conway Castle. This was also 
built by Edward the First, and it was here that the 
first Prince of Wales was born. The oldest son of 
Great Britain’s ruling monarch is still called the Prince 
of Wales. 

Leaving Caernarvon we find our surroundings 
changed almost at once. Great, bleak hills rise about 
us. The green hedges give place to stone walls. The 
pastures are wild and rocky. From the town of Dan- 
beris we drive through the famous pass of Danberis. 
For miles we are shut in by the great bare mountains, 
with just space for the roadway. 

Merioneth has much of the most beautiful scenery 
of Wales. Its lofty mountains contain deep, dark 
dells. Rich foliage covers its crags. There are wide 
sea views; and rivers, lakes and waterfalls add to the 
attraction. In the higher altitudes the climate is bleak, 
while in the lower lands myrtle grows in the open air. 

Near Dolgelly, the most important town in Merioneth, 
are many celebrated waterfalls. The most magnificent 
one of all is a narrow stream rushing down a rugged 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 75 



DANBERIS PASS, WALES. 





76 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 



slope, at least 150 feet in descent. Large fragments 
of rock scattered about at the bottom of the fall give 
a look of wild desolation to the scene. 

At Milford Haven, in Pembrokeshire, we find one 
of Great Britain's finest harbors. To the eye it has 
the appearance of an immense lake, and is so land- 


BETTWYS-Y-COED (SWALLOW FALLS), WALES. 

locked, or enclosed by jutting points of land, as to be 
secure from winds and tempests. This is important, 
for Pembroke, while having a climate that is warm 
and mild, is exposed to severe gales. 

Flowers, fruit and vegetables are produced earlier 
here than in most other parts of the United Kingdom. 
The homes of the farmers are comfortable and are 
generally built of stone, but the cottages of the peas¬ 
ants are mostly huts built of a clay and straw com¬ 
pound called “clom. 








A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 77 

A WELSH HOME. 

Let us stop for awhile at this farmer’s home. How 
pretty it is! The roof is thatched and the lattice win¬ 
dows filled with flowers. Climbing roses and vines 
almost cover the walls. Behind the house is an orch¬ 
ard of apple and pear trees. 

Inside the rooms are neat, clean and attractive. 
White curtains are at the windows; and a cheerful fire 
blazes upon the hearth, for the day is chilly. On 
either side of this fire-place is an old oaken settee. 
Against the wail is a dresser, on which are displayed 
some curious pieces of old china. Not a speck of dust 
or dirt can be seen anywhere—not even in the kitchen 
grate. 

A man and a woman seated in the room rise as we 
enter. The man is tall and strong; he wears a white 
coat of coarse cloth (frieze), corduroy breeches coming 
to the knee, gray woolen stockings, and stout shoes. 
His wife wears a long, blue, woolen gown, crimson pet¬ 
ticoat and white apron, broad shoes with buckles, and 
a kind of round hat. 

When the Welsh people meet each other their greet¬ 
ings are peculiar, and to us would appear tedious. 
“How is thy heart?” they ask. Then “How are thegood 
wife at home, the children and the rest of the family?” 

These country people are always hospitable. A 
stranger may travel amongst them without any ex¬ 
pense for food or lodging. Their fare may be coarse, 
but it is wholesome, consisting of bread or oatmeal, 
with milk, butter, cheese, and potatoes; also with fish 
if they are near streams or the seashore. In winter 
they have bacon, dry salted beef, mutton, and smoked 
venison. 



78 A LITTLE JORNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

The farmers’ wives are thrifty and saving. Fami¬ 
lies are large. Ten or twelve children is the usual 
number among the farmers’ families. Most of the 
women are strong, and are great workers and walkers. 

Even among the wealthy farmers the wives look 
after the dairy, and make the butter and cheese. 
They entertain a great deal if they live near a city, 



A WELSH HOME. 

and a meal in one of these homes will long be remem¬ 
bered, for the women are famous cooks. 

The women of Wales engage in almost all occupa¬ 
tions that are open to men. They are commonly to- 
be seen at work in the fields, and are employed as por¬ 
ters, ticket sellers, station keepers, and in banks and 
offices. They enjoy outdoor labor, and do not con¬ 
sider it beneath them. They may be seen in groups 
in the fields, singing and laughing at their work. 

The Welshmen are hard workers; many of them 




A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 79 


find their employment in the mines and quarries,, 
where the toil is most severe and the hours of labor 
long. Their holidays they spend smoking their pipes 



OLD WELSH COSTUMES. 


in their cabins, or walking about the fields and roads 
near by. Though hospitable, they practice close 









80 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

economy, and are shrewd and crafty in their dealings. 

In the west of Wales, at Glamargan, there are num¬ 
bers of women who get their living by selling cockles. 
They go about their daily rounds crying, “Cockles, 
fresh pockles, fine cockles! Will you buy my fresh 
cockles?” These cockles are much in demand in 
Welsh market places. 

Very picturesque figures these cockle women are. 
They often wear short dresses of red and black flan¬ 
nel, which are turned up in front and pinned close in 
under the waist at the back. Flannel aprons protect 
the dresses. Snowy kerchiefs are worn about the 
throat, and sometimes neat white caps under the 
Welsh hats. Little shawls are worn over the shoul¬ 
ders. 

In the west part of Wales we see the old Welsh cos¬ 
tumes, which the people in other parts of Wales have 
laid aside. Here the women still wear tall beaver 
hats with broad brims that look somewhat like the 
stove-pipe hats worn by men years ago. These women 
wear short gray or red flannel skirts, black or red 
dresses, long pointed bodices hooked in front, and flan¬ 
nel aprons. Kerchief and cap complete the costume. 

WELSH HARRIAGES. 

A marriage among the Welsh is surrounded by 
many curious customs which have survived from old 
times. On the occasion of the marriage, a “bidder” 
goes from house to house inviting guests to the wed¬ 
ding. The ceremony always takes place on a Satur¬ 
day, but the guests assemble on Friday with their 
presents. On Saturday ten to twenty of the groom's 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 81 

friends who are best mounted, go to demand the 
bride. She is placed on a horse behind her father, 
who rides off as fast as he can. He is soon overtaken, 
however, and the bride brought back. Presents con¬ 
tinue to be received on Saturday and Sunday, and on 
Monday they are sold. Sometimes quite an amount 
is received from the sale, perhaps two hundred or 
three hundred dollars, which is quite a help to the 
young country couple. 

FAIRS. 

Wales is said to be the greatest country in the 
world for fairs. We begin to think this is true, for' 
wherever we go we find the people holding out-of- 
door fairs of some sort. 

We are going now to attend one of these gatherings 
just a little way down the street of this country town. 
The country roads and streets are filled with people 
all bound for the fair. There are many farmers, some 
of the tradespeople of the town, and servants of the 
well-to-do people who own country places near by. 
Donkey carts go past laden with cherries, hazel nuts 
and other good things to tempt the buyer at the fair. 

On the grounds we find tents for the sale of food, 
fruits and drinks. Peddlers walk about with various 
articles for sale. Here is one with canes or walking 
sticks. He carries them in a deep old willow basket, 
shaped like a section of stovepipe. 

Among the things to amuse the people we see a big 
image like a great jumping-jack: it is six feet high, 
with a “pudding” in its stomach, and bells on its 
head. The “pudding” is of cloth with some soft 


82 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

stuffing, and by striking this you test your strength. 
When you hit it a straight blow the bells ring, thus 
showing your force and skill. 

There are other strength testers, games of chance, 
€tc. There is a shooting gallery, attended by a big, 
good-natured girl. 

Out-of-door fairs of various sorts are held all over 
Wales at all seasons of the year. These gatherings 
had, as their original purpose, the bringing together of 
the people for the purpose of selling and buying the 
produce of the country. Many of them now are 
wholly for pleasure and for racing. 

Before large towns existed, all sorts of goods and 
necessaries of life, which can now be bought in shops, 
were sold at these fairs; and everybody went to them. 

Among the different sorts of fairs are the horse 
shows, flower shows, Christmas shows, fat cattle shows, 
poultry shows, etc.; while other gatherings bear such 
unique names as Warm Fair, Winter Fair, Midsum¬ 
mer Fair, Martinmas Fair, October Fair, April Fair, 
Dish Fair, Pear Fair—a list without end. 

Llangellen Fair is one held principally for purposes 
of barter. It is held in a little square in the town, 
half way across which extends a row of carts filled 
with pigs. 'Near by stand the owners, men and 
women, dickering with the buyers. The pigs are 
small, and the buyers carry them away in their arms, 
while the porkers squeal. 

Cattle are sold at this fair, also; and a curious cus¬ 
tom is that each bargain is concluded with a slap of 
the hand between buyer and seller. 

The Hiring Fair is a peculiar institution, to which 



A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 83 

come serving men and maidens in vast number, and 
farmers in search of toilers for the coming year. 

We cannot pause at every point of interest, for, if we 
did, we should hardly make any progress at all. Yet 
there are some points it will not do to miss, and one of 
these is Llanfyllin, where a market is held every Thurs¬ 


day. Here also are held six annual fairs, the chief 
purpose of which is to bring in the celebrated Welsh 
ponies, called Merlins, for sale. On these days the 
usually quiet town is transformed into a very busy 
place. Early in the morning the farmers and breeders 
of ponies from the country all about may be seen on 
every road leading into Llanfyllin, each one with a 
large or small herd of the ponies. 


A WELSH GIRL CROSSING A FORD. 






84 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

In the town the streets are soon thronged, the lively 
little animals being the center of attraction. Buyers 
come from a distance, and bargaining, buying and 
selling go on at a lively rate. 

A local fair worth visiting is the Cattle Fair in the 
old town of Carmarthen. This place was once the 
capital of Wales, for centuries the seat of kings and 
the home of the Welsh Parliament. It is now a dull 
agricultural town, and its streets are busy only on 
great market and fair days. At this fair no language 
but Welsh is heard—the hawkers cry their wares in 
Welsh, and all bartering is conducted in that language. 

MUSICAL FESTIVALS. 

The Welsh people are extremely fond of music. 
Singing seems as natural to them as to the birds. The 
mother sings to her babe in the cradle; the children sing 
on their way to school; the workmen in the fields sing 
to their horses, and the milk-maid sings to the cows. 

There is singing at the feasts, fairs and festivals, at 
churches and at funerals. The people seem especially 
fond of war songs and we often hear “The March of 
the Men of Harlech.” 

The Welsh people hold every year a National Song 
Congress. This is for the purpose of encouraging 
music, Welsh literature, the making of songs similar 
to those sung by the old Bards, to maintain the Welsh 
language and customs, and to promote patriotism. 

The bards were professional poets and singers, whose 
occupation was to compose and sing verses in honor of 
the heroic deeds of princes and brave men. It was 
through them that much of the history of the early 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 85 

times was preserved, as their songs and verses, though 
not written, were taught by parents to children from 
one generation to another, and so kept from being for¬ 
gotten. 

This festival is called the Eisteddfod. Every little 
town has also its Eisteddfod conducted in the same 
manner as the great festival. 

When a National festival is held the trains bring in 
thousands of people from the towns and country round 
about. Before noon the place is crowded with people 
and vehicles. In this crowd are noblemen and peas¬ 
ants, fashionable city people and plain country folk, 
clergymen and priests, Druids and Bards, and musi¬ 
cians without number. 

There are celebrated harpists and great choirs, some 
of them numbering five hundred voices. The persons 
representing the Druids and Bards conduct a cere¬ 
mony similar to that conducted hundreds of years 
ago when the Druids and Bards were real people. 

All the Welsh people love poetry, and many com¬ 
pose and recite it. At the festival of the Eisteddfod, 
prizes and medals are given to the successful contest¬ 
ants for original poems, stories and songs, for choral 
and solo singing, for singing with the harp, and to the 
best performers on the harp or stringed or wind in¬ 
struments. 

The highest object of a Welsh Bard's ambition is to 
be the winner at these festivals and to receive the re¬ 
ward, which is to be seated in a silver chair. This 
ceremony is imposing and is performed with sound of 
trumpets. 

The people value education very highly and make 


86 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES, 

great sacrifices in order to educate their families. The 
population of Wales is more than 2,200,000, yet they 
have four colleges and many schools. 

CARDIFF. 

Cardiff, at the mouth of the River Taff, is the me¬ 
tropolis of Wales, and the second most important sea¬ 
port town in the country. It has a population of 
200,000. The docks of Cardiff are famed the world 
over. They were built by the Marquis of Bute, and 
cost over five million dollars. At the docks, which 
are walled about with stone piers, are found great ocean 
.steamers from every land. More steamers land here 
than at London, and the place is of so much impor¬ 
tance that the United States sent a consul to the port. 

We find the streets broad and clean. The houses, 
instead of being numbered, are given pretty names, by 
which they are always known. In the country the 
same plan is followed. More than fifty churches may 
be counted here, and we find that in them only the 
Welsh language is spoken. 

Cardiff is the center of England’s greatest coal and 
iron region. It has the largest coal-shipping trade 
in the world, and exports large quantities of iron, and 
manufactures from the southern part of Wales. The 
New South Wales University at this place has over 
.3,000 students. 

Another city of importance in the southern part of 
Wales is Swansea, a busy place of over 100,000 inhab¬ 
itants, at the mouth of the Tarve. It is the chief 
center of the tin-plate trade of England, and is one of 
the most important copper-smelting centers in the 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 87 

world. The copper is not found in this part of Wales, 
but is brought from Cornwall and from foreign coun¬ 
tries to be manufactured here, because of the abund¬ 
ance and cheapness of fuel. 

Our last visit will be to the town of St. David's, 
where we see St, David's Cathedral, the finest and 
most interesting church in Wales. Perhaps you won¬ 
der who Saint David was or is. He is the patron 
saint of Wales. A patron saint is one who is a spec¬ 
ial protector of a country, place or community. 

This man, who was a prince, devoted his life to 
good deeds and to teaching the people the Christian 
religion. The people of Wales have never forgotten 
him, and every year on the third of March religious ex¬ 
ercises are held in the magnificent cathedral that 
bears his name. The place is now in ruins, yet so 
beautiful is it that in all England there is no finer 
church. 

RELIGION. 

The people of Wales are very religious, and they 
have shown their devotion to their church by erecting 
many fine chapels throughout the country. 

A hundred years ago it was a very unusual thing 
to see a copy of the Bible in the home of a poor fam¬ 
ily in Wales. You will be interested, I think, to 
know how it happens that the Bible is found in every 
home to-day, because it came through the efforts of a 
poor little peasant Welsh girl. 

This child's name was Mary Jones. She had been 
taught something of the Bible in one of the schools, 
and was very anxious to study it. A farmer who 
lived two miles from her home gave her permission to 


88 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 

read his copy. Every week after this for six years 
Mary walked, in all kinds of weather, to the home of 
this man to read this Bible. She began at the same 
time to save up her pennies to buy a book for herself. 
Think of saving your pennies so long as that for a 
book! At last she had enough, and walked fifty miles 
to make her purchase. 

The minister of whom she bought the book told the 
story to the members of a tract society, and suggested 
the need of a society that would furnish Bibles to peo¬ 
ple who were too poor to buy. The people were much 
touched by the story, and the result was the forma¬ 
tion of the British and Foreign Bible Society, which 
has since caused the Bible to be printed in every lan¬ 
guage and circulated all over the world. 

And now good-bye to England and Wale?, for our 
month is ended, and we must be on our way to Scot¬ 
land. 


A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WALES. 89 


YE MARINERS OF ENGLAND. 

Ye mariners of England, 

That guard our native_seas! 

Whose flag has braved a thousand years 
The battle and the breeze! 

Your glorious standard launch again 
To match another foe, 

And sweep through the deep, 

While the stormy winds do blow; 

While the battle rages loud and long 
And the stormy winds do blow. 

The spirits of your fathers 
Shall start from every wave— 

Eor the deck it was their field of fame, 
And ocean was their grave; 

Where Blake and mighty Nelson fell 
Your manly hearts shall glow, 

As ye sweep through the deep, 

While the stormy winds do blow; 

While the battle rages loud and long 
And the stormy winds do blow. 

Britannia needs no bulwarks, 

No towers along the steep; 

Her march is o’er the mountain waves, 
Her home is on the deep; 

With thunders from her native oak 
She quells the floods below— 

As they roar on the shore, 

When the stormy winds do blow; 

When the battle rages loud and long, 
And the stormy winds do blow. 

The meteor flag of England; 

Shall yet terrific burn, 

Till danger’s troubled night depart, 
And the star of peace return. 


90 A LITTLE JOURNEY TO ENGLAND AND WAL*ES. 

Then, then, ye ocean warriors! 

Our song and feast shall flow 

To the fame of your name, 

When the storm has ceased to blow; 

When the fiery fight is heard no more, 

And the storm has ceased to blow. 

—Thomas Campbell . 

SEAFARERS. 

The traders that hail from the Clyde, 

And the whalers that sail from Dundee, 

Put forth in their season on top of the tide 
To gather the grist of the sea, 

To ply in the lanes of the sea. 

By fairway and channel and sound, 

By shoal and deep water they go, 

Guessing the course by the feel of the ground, 

Or chasing the drift of the floe— 

Nor’west, in the track of the floe. 

And we steer them to harbor afar, 

At hazard we win them abroad, 

When the coral is furrowed by keels on the bar, 
And the sea-floor is swept by the Lord, 

The anchorage dredged by the Lord. 

And what of the cargo ye bring, 

For the venture ye bore over seas? 

What of the treasure ye put forth to wring 
From the chances of billow and breeze? 

In spite of the billow and breeze. 

Oh, we carry the keys of the earth, 

And the password of Empire we bear 

Wherever the beaches held promise of worth, 

'We Established your sovereignty there; 

We planted our flag over there. 

Percival Gibbon, in the London Spectator. 


THE MILLER OF THE DEE. 


Charles Mackay. 



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-y— 

























































































































MARCH OF THE MEN OF HARLECH. 






1. Men of Har - lech! in the hoi - low, Do ye hear, like 

2. Rock - y steeps and pass - es nar - row Flash with spear and 




—N- 


rush - ing bil - low, Wave on wave that surg - ing fol - low 
flight of ar - row, Who would think of death or sor • row ? 



3 £ 


Bat - tie’s 
Death is 


dis - tant sound? ’Tis 

glo - ry now! Hurl 


the tramp of 
the reel - ing 



Sax - on foe-men, Sax - on spear-men, Sax - on bow-men; 
horse-man o - ver, Let the earth dead foe - men cov - er! 


i 


felt 




=**=!= 


Be they knights,or hinds,or yoe-men, They shall bite the ground! 
Fate of friend, of wife, of lov - er, Trem-bles on a blowl 









Loose the folds a - sun - der, Flag we con - quer un-der! The 

Strands of life are riv - en; Blow for blow is giv - en In 



V-—^—l—sjr—-1— 


-J 1 




plac - id sky, now bright on high, Shall launch its bolts in thunder! 
dead - ly lock, or bat - tie shock, And mer-cy shrieks to heav-en! 



-* — * 


:± | 1 




Onward!’tis our country needs us; He is brav est,he who leads us! 
Men of Harlech! young or hoar-y, Would you win a name in sto-ry! 


a 






sL 


m 


Hon - or’s self now proud-ly heads us! Freedom! God, and Right! 
Strike for home, for life, for glo - ry! Freedom! God, and Right! 
































































































Industrial Materials 


Send to 

A. Flanagan Company - Chicago 


for samples and prices of 


Raffia 
Scissors 
Natural Reed 
Fiber-reed 
Pine Needles 
Construction Paper 


Coated Paper 
Cardboard 
Looms 
Rug Yarns 
Macrame Cord 
Modeling Clay 


And All Industrial Materials 


. Our prices are always the lowest 
. and our quality is always the best 

Catalogues on request 

A. Flanagan Company - Chicago 










ENTERTAINMENTS 


Drills and Plays for Patriotic Days.$0.25 

The Patriot’s Parade. A one-act play..15 

The Stars and Stripes, A flag drill..15 

All the Holidays, Celebrations for all grades - - - - .40 

Baxter’s Choice Dialogues. Ten good dialogues for old 

and young..25 

The Christmas Program Book. Recitations, drills, 

dialogues, songs and quotations. Very good - - - .40 

Christmas Gems, Readings and recitations - - - - .40 

Friday Afternoon Entertainments, New..40 

Thirty Christmas Dialogues and Plays. Original 

humorous, and musical. For all grades - - - - .40 

Modem Drill and Exercise Book.- - .40 

Thompson Drills and Marches..40 

Dickerman’s Drills. Many new and original drills - - .40 

Evangeline Entertainment. Dramatization of Long¬ 
fellow’s Evangeline..25 

Dolly Travers’ Inheritance. A four-act drama - - - .15 

Washington Day Entertainments. For all grades - - .40 

Heavenly Twins. Farce for 13 or more characters - - .25 

Mirth Provoking School Room. Farce for 14 or more 

characters ------ ..25 

New Motion Songs. For all grades..25 

Normal Dialogue Songs. Dialogues, characters, etc. - .40 

Old Time Humorous Dialogues, For young and old - - .40 

Practical Dialogues, Drills and Marches. For all grades 

and all occasions.* .40 

The Dear Boy Graduates. A four-act farce..25 

Special Days in Primary Grades. Washington, Lin¬ 
coln, closing days, etc...30 

Thanksgiving Entertainments. For all grades. Recita¬ 
tions, dialogues, songs, and drills. Excellent - - .40 

Lincoln Day Entertainments. For all grades. New - - .40 


A. Flanagan Company— Chicago 




































